


High School of the Dead: Hunters of the Holocaust

by Tenkura



Category: Gakuen Mokushiroku | Highschool of the Dead
Genre: Action, F/M, Survival Horror, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 48,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12899892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenkura/pseuds/Tenkura
Summary: Looking back, it all seems like Riida only blinked. One moment, he's studying with his brother and best friend in school. The next moment, he's dispatching mutilated, walking bodies. With his only want to protect the ones he love, Riida faces the apocalypse head on, prepared for the changes he has to make in order to survive. He only hopes that the damage could be undone.





	1. Undead

**Author's Note:**

> High School of the Dead: Hunters of the Holocaust was first published on fanfiction.net back in December 11, 2011. The grammar, sentence structure, story, basically everything about the beginning chapters suck completely. I choose not to redo them. This is because it's interesting to see my progress and improvement evolve throughout each chapter. I say my writing is fairly competent after Chapter 10: Doubts and throughout. I actually start to make things interesting as much as I can. You're all free to start from the beginning if you choose to. I just thought there should be an explanation to why it just sucks so bad. 
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this. 
> 
> -Tenkura

 

"HOLY SHIT!"

My brother, Shizuka Bushi, and I ran with the riot. The fellow students around us rushing towards the exit at the end of the hall while the overcrowded populace started to shove each other aside to exit.

"Where should we go?" Shizuka asked, running beside me.

"I don't know, but whatever happens, we both STICK TOGETHER." I commanded.

"Look out!" Shizuka exclaimed.

Before I could turn my head and acknowledge what he was warning me about, I lose my footing over an obstacle and found the white tiled floor approaching closer to my face.

**Chapter 1: Undead**

I wake up to be greeted to my brother's eyes. Fortunately he wasn't dead. He stood up and started scanning the hallway, but I stayed down on the ground for a few moments more, the pain on my stomach was preventing me from getting up.

Once the pain was eased I got up and briefly hugged my brother for a few seconds. I released the embrace and I started scanning him for any injuries.

"Are you okay?" I worriedly asked.

"I'm fine." Shizu nodded. "And I'm pretty sure you're fine too."

We both look down the dark hallway, unsure of what to do. Suddenly I hatched an idea.

"I'll call 911." I suggested and took out my flip phone from my pocked and dialed 911. I put the phone to my ear, and heard the impossible thing I've ever heard.

_I'm sorry, the number you've dialed cannot be traced. Please hang up and try again._

Shocked, I slowly closed the phone, and clenched my left hand.

"What happened?" Shizu asked.

"911," I paused, "won't pick up."

"…" Shizu looked away. The cold dead silence spread over us.

"Now what?" he asked.

I took a look out of the window from my left, and saw the most unrealistic thing.

"Holy shit…" I whispered. Shizuka did the same and looked out of the window. There were people eating dead corpses, or students, people killing other people. No, it can't be.

"Zombies." I concluded, "My god, I can't believe it."

"Well," Shizu broke the silence, "We need to do something. We need to escape."

"It'll be impossible to charge to the entrance head on. There are a lot of them down there waiting for us. And if we even go to the entrance, they'll be more of them. We need to settle down somewhere over here first. Get some weapons and supplies, maybe find some survivors while we're at it," I stopped to think what to say next.

"Where do you suggest we go?" I asked, curious to what Shizuka would say.

"Let's head to the gym. We're bound to find some sort of weapon to defend ourselves with." He suggested.

"Good idea," I complimented, "What about them?" I pointed to the zombies through the glass.

"We'll just have to either sneak, or run past them." Shizu answered.

I let out a deep sigh and looked up. "Let's try not to get bitten on the way."

"Right." He said, and then we both started taking off to the gym. "We better hurry. We don't want the unexpected rescue to leave without us."

The Gym

We were able to sneak past the zombies, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. We saw a female student get eaten by those freaks. And we saw the most messed up thing, two girls were trying to escape but one tripped and was about to get eaten. Her "Good friend" just kicked her and tried to escape without her, but failed to do so. I swear I'll never do that to my own brother.

Once we entered the gym, we were greeted by dead bodies and blood splatters everywhere. No zombies I hope. I winced at the horrible smell that was given off by the decomposing bodies and waved my hand in front of my face. I felt like I was about to vomit.

"Damn that stinks. Let's hurry to the supply closet." I said. We continued on, trying to ignore the smell of rotting bodes, and the sight of them. I decided to keep my head straight; it'll be bad to go crazy right now.

We came across a bloody aluminum baseball bat. Shizuka picked it up and handed it to me.

"I'll find something else. There's bound to be more weapons around here." He said. He headed to another closet as I followed behind, keeping my guard up.

The closet only had a golf club bag in the corner, but the rest of the room was overshadowed by the darkness. Shizuka ran in there to retrieve the golf club and I guarded the door. Thankfully, no zombies came our way. So I looked back into the closet, and saw Shizu picked up a 9-iron.

"Lucky day for me." he softly cheered. Suddenly, we heard the sound of slow footsteps. Shiz turns around to find a zombie right behind him.

"Zombie!" He yelled. I think he got this one from here. I quickly turned my back to watch the hallway to make sure any remaining zombies were coming near. I looked to my right and was greeted by a sight of a zombie. I ran to the zombie and bashed it in the head with the bat. When it fell to the ground, I smashed its head, and blood splattered against the wall and my student uniform.

"Ugh, sick." I said under my breath, wiping the blood off my face.

I walked back to the door that leaded to the closet and saw the sight of Shizuka bashing the zombies head while it was on the ground repeatedly with the 9-iron. I sighed in relief that he was alright. After he beat the zombie into a pulp, he ran out of the closet and shut the door.

"Let's head to the Library now, we could get some supplies there and some information. Maybe barricade the front door until the night passes." I suggested.

"This isn't a game!" He exclaimed, "We can't just stay here overnight. We have to escape! And to do that, we must head to the rooftop. There must be some helicopter flying by, they'll rescue us." I let the cold reply slide; he was pretty startled when he encountered the zombie.

"But if there is no rescue, we'll check the library after." He finished. "Is that okay?"

"Yes brother, it's alright." I responded.

"But we'll attract more by staying here. Let's just head to the rooftop so we don't stay here any longer." Said Shizu.

With that said, we both ran for the entrance and exited the Gym.

Schoolyard

Once we got out we ran to the nearest stairs we can find, beating nearby zombies down on the way.

"Damn, there were more than I excepted!" Shizu exclaimed as he knocked down a zombie.

Once we got on the stairs, many zombies started to follow us. I stopped and kicked one of them down the stairs, it crashing into another zombie while falling, then continued following Shizu up the stairs. Once we made it to the rooftop, there were recently killed zombie corpses. There was still blood oozing out of their heads.

"What the- Is there someone else here?" Shizu questioned.

"This is a big school, there's bound to be other survivors than us." I said.

"Right, well who's that?" he asked, pointing to a figure that was on the edge of the rooftop. "Is he a survivor?"

I squinted my eyes, and walk towards the figure. As I approach the figure, he turned back and pointed two handguns at me.

"Riida wait!" Shizu exclaimed, running to me.

"Riida?" the figured student said lowering his guns. The sun revealed his face.

"Yasumi Basha?" I responded. He had red spikey hair and green eyes.

"My god! I thought you two were dead!" He exclaimed, smiling.

"Luckily, we were able to survive." Shizuka responded. I looked to the right and saw military helicopters.

"Hey! Over here!" Shizuka jumped and waved his hands.

"Hey come back here! Come back!" I yelled.

"Don't bother, I tried doing the same, but they just flew past me, like I wasn't even there. Whatever they're doing, I bet it's not a search and rescue mission." Yasumi explained.

"Dammit!" I said. I looked out at the city, buildings were burning, zombies were roaming, and survivors are getting eaten. All three of us were staring down at the city, petrified and I wondered if mom and dad are alright. Dads a marine veteran and mom's a nurse so they could make a good team. Thank god mom called in sick from the hospital today just because she was lazy. I guess I'll call them later, when we get to a place in this school where we could settle down.

A loud, gurgling roar broke the silence. We turned around and saw many of zombies walking towards us. I guess the library wasn't an option anymore.

Yasumi reloaded both of his guns and pointed at them, I got to a batting stance, and Shinzuka did the same.

The zombies were coming from the left and right side, in the middle there was a door that would lead us to the hallways again. Damn we walked into a big, fucking circle.

"Follow my lead!"


	2. Survivors

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead**

**Chapter 2: Survivors**

"Follow my lead!"

I ran to the left of where the zombies where raiding in, and swung my bat onto a zombies head. The impact of the hit made the zombies head spray blood onto my bat and across my face. I kick the headless zombie towards the other incoming zombies from the left, making them collapse to the concrete ground, painting it in red.

"Behind you!" Shizuka warned. When I turned my back, I saw blood spray behind the zombies back.

It kneeled down and revealed my brother, with his hood up and the shadow covering his eyes. Under those shadows, he had hazel eyes, and wavy long light brown hair, with his bangs covering his left eye. He was wearing a black jacket, which is now covered with blood splatters across his jacket. His unzipped jacket revealed a plain blue shirt. He wore regular black dress jeans and shoes. Shizuka goes to the same class as me. We stick together like glue.

Shizuka turned around and killed whatever zombie that was on the right side. I turned around to check the other side, until suddenly a zombie grabbed me and tried to pin me down. I quickly put my aluminum bat between me and the zombie and pushed with all of my strength that I had. The zombie's eyes were looking up, revealing the red veins that showed on the eyes, and its mouth was open with its face close to mine. It roars loudly as I closed one eye when its saliva spitted on my cheek.

Suddenly, I heard a gunshot, and the zombie fell to the ground. As it fell, it revealed Yasumi Bashi. He chuckled and stood parallel, lifting both M9 Beretta's sideways from his body, and shot the two inbound zombies coming towards him. When he did he looked back at me with his shining green eyes, smirked, and reloaded his handguns.

"Merry Christmas." snickered Yasumi.

I met Yasumi Bashi in 8th grade, and was friends with him since. Everybody had known him as that smartass funny guy. He's actually pretty smart, and was efficient in medical equipment, and was also efficient with his smartass comebacks, he especially found dark humor quite funny. He wore the usual male uniform that is covered with small stains of blood with his usual short and spiky red hair. I wasn't surprised where he got the guns. His dad always bought guns and kept them in their house. Backups I guess.

"Come on!" I yelled to my two companions as I ran to the door, hammering a zombie on the way there.

I quickly opened the door and gestured them to hurry. They both ran, Yasumi shooting back at them while running. Once they got in, I kicked the distant zombie and slammed the door shut and locking it. We all started to breath heavily and I slide down the door until my rear reached the floor.

"And it's good!" Yasumi cheered. Shizu and I chuckled softly, still trying to catch our breaths.

"What now?" asked Shizu after minutes of resting.

I opened my mouth and began to say something, but was interrupted by a loud pitched screamed that echoed through the hallways down the first flight of stairs.

"AHHH!" We all were speechless for a second, which seemed like an eternity.

"Shit, let's go and see who that was!" I said, raising myself from the ground. We all ran down the first flight of stairs and ran down the hallway. I looked down at the recently killed zombies, with brain parts splattered against the floor and the wall, and blood still oozing from their bodies.

"Oh no, I'm out!" a low, dim voice emanated from the long hall.

"Let's take haste!" Commanded Shizu.

"Get away!" A female voice shrieked out, followed by the sound of drilling.

The three of us got to the scene of a long pink hair pony tailed girl that was using the drill to kill the zombie. The drill pierced the zombie skull, causing its brain to turn its inside into mush. As she did, she was showered by blood. I noticed other survivors witnessing the scene. I counted seven survivors including the pink haired girl who was getting a unwanted blood shower.

"I can't take it anymore! Someone please!" She pleaded.

"What's the matter? You got drilled hard?" Yasumi smirked. The sound of the crashing door caught my attention down the hallway we entered from. Zombies started to fill in.

"We'll get the hallway!" I said. Shizu, Yasumi, and I ran towards the hallway at the incoming zombies.

"I'll take the right side." A female teacher said, everybody started running towards the remaining zombie in the area.

"I'll hold the left!" A female student said.

I clashed the aluminum bat on every zombie's head that came my way. I mowed most of them down and left one for Shizu. As the zombie walk towards him, he swings his 9-iron underhanded and it clashed with the zombies nuts. The zombie stared at Shizu for a few seconds but before it had time to react, I kicked its legs causing it to fall to the floor face first. I placed my foot on its back and Shizu stepped back, and started running towards the zombie in a batting stance, and ended off striking its head, taking it off, and ended his golf swing over his left shoulder. The zombie head flew to the other following zombies that came in from the broken down door.

"Nice shot!" I complimented. Shizu continued forward attacking the incoming zombies. Following behind him was Yasami, who was just walking normally; firing his 2 Beretta's at the zombies in front of Shizu.

"It's a hard knock life, stead of homework~. I get kills, stead of boredom~, I get thrills. It's a hard knock life for me~~" Yasumi sang audibly, striding down the hallway with his pistols aimed down the hallway. Each shot he took was booming and it left my ears ringing after he finished his bullet barrage.

"Hey! Watch where you aim that thing!" I warned, witnessing Shizuka and him holding off near the door at the end of the hallway.

How much ammo does Yasumi have anyway?

I shook my head at the thought, and rotated myself around to check back down the hallway to make sure all the we killed are actually dead.

As I turned around, a zombie pounced towards me followed by a loud roar.

"Again!" I screamed. I placed my bat between me and the zombie, trying to push it off of me. Its rotten teeth got closer and closer to my left collarbone. I continue to struggle to get the zombie off of me, but I wasn't strong enough. It's warm breath breezed on my skin and it's saliva started to drip on it. I suddenly feel a sense of adrenaline course though my body. My heart started to beat faster than it used too, I started to panic and push more roughly, my eyes began to tear up, and I became oblivious to what was around me.

"NO!" I yelled and finally thrown the zombie onto the lockers and it falls to the floor. I paced towards it and started to stomp on its face repeatedly, grunting at every stomp.

"Die! Stupid! Dammit! MOTHER! FUCKER!" My last stomp ended up smashing the zombies head in, like an egg. I lift my shoe from the puddle of blood, which started to gush through my shoes with brain tissue left on the bottom of it, and wiped the tears from my eyes. I quickly checked myself, head to toe to make sure that I wasn't bitten.

Thank god. No bite-marks.

Shizu and Yasumi came down the stairs, staring at the bloody hallway and the body's we made.

"We were able to block the door." Shinzu mentioned.

"Don't ask how we did it." Added Yasumi who was breathing heavily. We walked back down the hallway to the other survivors, we met. They were okay, and the zombies were all dead. But I don't know about the pink head girl sitting on the ground in front of the zombie she recently killed. She stared at the body, dismayed at the sight.

"Taka-"A chubby student started to say, but a blonde teacher with large breasts knocked him down with them while running to the student. When she did, she seemed oblivious to the fact that she almost knocked the poor guy unconscious.

"Takagi, are you okay?" an orange hair female student knelt down next to her, while the blonde teacher looked over her shoulder.

I took the time to look at myself on the nearby mirror by the traumatized pink haired girl. I had Hazel eyes, the same as Shizuka's and light brown bowl brushed hair kind of what Bruce Lee's hair would look like. I unbuttoned my blood drenched uniform and throw it against the wall and revealed a gray tank top. I effortlessly wiped the blood off of my face and shook my hand against the ground. When I got done checking myself out, I walked back beside Yasumi.

"You already know the schools doctor Mirakawa, right?" A long dark haired woman reassured, talking to a student with a wooden baseball bat. "I'm Saeko Busujima, from class 3-A."

"I'm Takashi Komuro, from class 2-B." Takashi introduced.

"Miss. Busujimia, I remember you on the last national championship last year," A long orange hair female student stood up. "I'm Rei Miyamoto, from the spear martial arts club."

"Oh and I- I'm Kohta Hirano, from class B, just FYI." The chubby awkwardly introduced after regaining consciousness after getting bumped on the head.

"Nice to meet you." Saeko smiled. Kohta gasped in amazement. Poor guy seems to be a loner too.

"What about you three?" Rei pointed to us. I glanced at Shizuko and Yasumi as they did the same. Yasumi holstered his guns on his dual gun holsters.

"I'm Yasumi Bashi, from class 2-E." Yasumi greeted himself, smiling. Kohta widened his eyes at the sight of Yasumi's guns.

"Are those 9M Beretta's!" Kohta eagerly asked.

"Uh...Yeah… These are fuckin' bitchin' guns." Yasumi took his handgun out of his holster while scratching the back of his head.

"Holy shit!" Kohta gasped.

Shizu pulled down his hood, revealing his face to everyone.

"I'm Shizuka Bushi, from class 2-D." he greeted, also smiling. I looked at everybody who was staring at me, instead of Takagi who was softly sobbing, waiting for me to greet myself. I wasn't so sure if I could trust them or not, but something tells me that their good people.

"I'm Riida Bushi, the brother of Shizuka, and from class 2-D." I said, smiling."Maybe we can all team up and work together, improve our chances of survival."

I turned my head to Takagi, who stood up.

"Why are you all being so warm and fuzzy?" She irately asked. Everybody turned turn their attention to her.

Oh no, here we go.

"Why are you being polite to me Miyamoto? You flunked last year, you're the same age she's not your elder." Miyamoto widened her eyes as Takagi mentioned that.

"What are you talking about Takagi!" Takashi questioned.

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid! I'm smarter than all of you combined!" Takagi ferociously screamed.

"Yeah, but it feels like you have an IQ of 3." Yasumi whispered. I elbowed him in the ribs softly, and he grunted in pain. "H-hey!"

"I swear you're going to get your ass kicked one day." Shizu chuckled as he lifted his hood up.

"I don't think they can if I have this!" Yasumi responded holding up is Beretta.

"I'm. I-I'm…" She placed her clenched hand on her chest as tears fill her eyes again.

"It's okay." Busujima placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "that's enough."

The pink haired girl lifted her head and faced to the mirror that I was staring at earlier.

"Look at me, all these bloodstains," she gaped at the sight of her white and green school uniform that was recently showered by the rain of blood provided by the zombie she drilled. "Now mom has to take it to the cleaners."

"Oh the cleaners, how about zombie infested avenue? Or better yet, downtown: apocalyptic road. Your choice." Yasumi remarkably responded, again.

"Hey, shut up!" I whispered. Yasumi gestured a whatever and holstered his gun.

Takashi walked and stood beside her next to the mirror, glaring at her through the mirror.

Takagi placed her head on Busujima's chest and started bawling. They both slid to the ground and Takagi continued crying louder every breath she took. We all stared in misfortune. I don't even know who this girl is, but she has my sympathy.

She continued weeping as we continue to watch, which seemed like an eternity.

"Y-you want a med-kit?" Yasumi asked awkwardly, breaking the silence. Everybody glared at him, except of Takagi, who was still crying.

"What?" Yasumi shrugged.

**Offices**

We all decided to go to one of the offices and barricade the door. The school's doctor said that she had car keys to get out of here, so the three of us decided to roam around with them, for now. Yasumi was sitting by one of the desks checking one of his guns, accompanied by Kohta, who was also checking out his guns in amazement. Shizu was helping barricade the door, and I was sitting down beside Takashi.

"Here you go." Miyamoto handed Takashi a bottle of water. "Thanks."

Then the sudden feeling of thirst and hunger came over me. Man it's been hours since I've eaten. I stood up and went to the door that had another room that was empty because Shizuka and the other survivors use the resources form that area to barricade the door. I walk towards the bathroom but heard the sound of the sinks faucet. Dammit!

Apparently it was Takagi, who was washing her face.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked. She lifted her head from the sink fitted her oval shaped glasses on her face that made her look cuter since her face was already wet.

"No thanks to your smartass friend and his witty remarks. Yeah, I heard that." As she exited, she throws a towel at my face and walks away. I shook my head and took the towel off my face and placed it on the hanger next to the sink. I turned the sink on, cupped my hands under the streaming water, and drink the cold tap water and also washed the remaining bloodstains on my face.

After quenching my thirst and cleaning my face, I walked back into the office to where all the survivors are.

"Doctor Mirakawa, where's the car key?" Takashi asked.

"Oh, it's in my purse somewhere." She said as she searched through her brown bag.

"Are you sure your car is big enough to fit all of us?" questioned Busujima.

"Now that I think about it…" she awkwardly said slowly.

"What about the buses we use for the clubs? Looks like the keys are on the wall hook." Busujima suggested.

"Well what do you know, the bus is right outside." Shizu said, with the blinds pulled down, looking out of the window.

"That's fine, but where are we going?" Mirakawa asked.

"We're going to make sure our families are okay, we'll start with the first family that's close by the school."

"I agree, but have you taken a closer look at the city? They're everywhere, and the infection is spreading fast, it could be infecting the whole wor-"I paused, and looked at the Television, that Rei was standing under, that was on the News channel.

"What's wrong Riida?" Takashi asked.

"Turn up the volume of the T.V." I commanded gesturing to the T.V remote that was on a nearby desk. Busujima followed it and grabbed the T.V remote and turned the volume up so we all could hear. Takashi stood up and walked beside me, staring at the T.V.

"..-the emergency measures of the outbreak have been occurring in locations around the city." The news reporter said when the T.V was loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Outbreaks! What do you mean outbreaks!" Takashi questioned the T.V. Busujima changed the channel that showed a news reporter lady outside, while behind her, was police and ER doctors pushing body bags on gurneys.

"It's been feared that over 10,000 have been victimized-"

"What! Ten thousand!" Yasumi exclaimed.

"The governor has already called for a-" The reporter was interrupted by a gunshot. "...has already declared a state of emergency."

The body bags started to move, but the police fired their guns at it and it lay back down. Then the area got overwhelmed by upcoming zombies from behind.

The news reporter screamed in fear, and then the camera fell to the ground. The last thing we saw was the feet of a zombie walking towards the camera, and then everything went static. When it did, everybody was silent. Then the please stand by screen showed up. The channel turned to where the news studio is, and a lady that was handed paper.

"They're seems to be a problem with our remote, from now on, we'll bring in the story from inside the studio. The condition outside seems chaotic, so stay home unless it's absolutely necessary to go outside. We'll bring you more stories as soon as it's safe to cover the current situation from the sight."

Takashi slammed on the desk with his fist.

"Dammit! Is that it? Why didn't they tell us anything else?" He asked, frustrated.

"Because they don't want anybody to know how it started."


	3. The Escape

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead**

"That could be it, but they could also be afraid of causing panic." Takagi included.

"Even now?" Miyamoto questioned.

"Because of what happened now!" Takagi answered, aggravated. "Fear leads to chaos, chaos leads to anarchy."

"The government can't control a bunch of people who are panicking and at the same time, fight a bunch of undead." Shizuka added.

"Exactly." Takagi approved.

The T.V then showed another news reporter stating that the president has been transported into another area, they've lost contact with Moscow, Beijing was set ablaze, London, by an incredible feat, maintained order, and somewhere around Rome there were reports of looting.

"The government has declared a state of…" before the news reporter could finish her sentence, the T.V went to static. When it did I took the T.V remote Busujima left on the desk she got it from, aimed it at the hanging T.V, and turned it off.

**Chapter 3: The Escape**

"So, they're everywhere." Takashi said, shocked "That's crazy."

"It all seemed to happen so fast though. Everybody was fine when we drove to school" Shizu added.

"And this happened all over the world in a matter of few hours." Miyamoto timidly said, taking a few steps back to Takashi, grabbing on to his sleeve.

"But they'll stop it, right? I mean they have to stop it from spreading I mean, everything is going back to normal soon." said optimistic Miyamoto.

"Sorry to break it to you, but this already happened around the world. It would be impossible to kill that many zombies, with only a little amount of humans." Shizu paused in his train of thought, "Unless they manage to nuke the whole place, but let's hope that don't happen."

"This is a pandemic!" Takagi exclaimed, "There's nothing we could do."

"So this is exactly like an epidemic." Yasumi added "Just like the swine flu. It killed thousands of people in the world in days."

"Not to be disagreeable, but this is more like the 'Black Death' in the fourteenth century." The nurse proposed.

"One- third of the European population died; you're smarter than you look." Takagi sarcastically said.

"Started by a flea giving the plague to the rat, then it passed it on to thousand english people there from 1348 to 1350. One of the worse pandemics in history, that's a perfect example of what's happening right now." Yasumi explained giving us a brief history of what happened.

"You're smarter than you look too, Yasumi." Takagi also sarcastically complimented Yasumi. The only response he gave was just a shrug, then crossed his arms.

"How did the outbreak finally end?" Takashi asked.

"Well, there are many theories." Marikawa pondered.

"One being a brown rat that killed it. Maybe it had a resistance to it." Yasumi suggested.

"I call the resistance to these zombies, a weapon," Shizuka said, pulling down the blindfolds of the window staring down at the walking dead, "These things would bite back at you anyway."

"So is there no reason for this outbreak to stop?" asked Busujima.

"The weather's going to be hot," Mirakawa pointed out, "they might not be able to move their flesh decomposes and become skeletons."

"That would take about 2 weeks at the most for them to turn into bones, 40 to 50 years for it for the skeleton bones to dry and brittle too. Now multiply that to the millions of zombies in this world," Yasumi explained, "That's like, infinity times five."

"Medical logic doesn't apply to those dead corpses that move around and attack humans." Takagi opposed.

"Then the bodies won't decompose at all." I finished.

"Well let's not worry about this now; we need to go to see if our families are okay, and then find a place to settle down." I directed, changing the subject, "Our first priority is to get to the bus and drive to the town."

"Let's make sure we always have a plan at hand at all times then." Shizu recommended.

"Let's get ready to move out." I commanded.

We all went to get our weapons. Takashi and I got our bats we both left in the corner, Shizu picked up his slightly bent, blood rusted 9-iron, Yasumi took out his two Beretta's, Miyamoto spun her broomstick that has the tip on the end of it, Kohta got his modded nailgun, and Busujima took out her black samurai sword, well not exactly a sword, I don't know what you call it. It just looks like a sword.

We all piled up to the door that we un-barricaded, me being in the front, Shizuka being on my left and Yasumi on my right readying their weapons.

"Any proposals before we leave?" I asked

"Let's pick up any survivor's on the way." Busujima said.

"What's the best way out of here?" Miyamoto asked.

"Sorry stupid, but the only way were going to get out of here is the front." Takagi said.

"Let's try not to waste our strength on any undead we don't need to kill." Shizu suggested.

"How 'bout a potty break?" Yasumi sarcastically asked.

"Hold it." I bluntly respond.

I took a deep breath to try to slow down the fast beating of my heart.

"Let's try to hurry." I commanded.

I slid the door open as two zombies near the front turned to us. I ran up to one as Shizuka ran to the other and hammered them down. We continued to beat and shoot zombies down in our way until we got to the door.

School yard

I leaned on a railing near the door we came out of with Shizu and Yasumi beside me, and everybody else behind us, also looking over the railing that was looking down on the zombies we could possibly face next.

"Let's try to sneak our way past them like how we did when we went to the gym." Shizu suggested.

"Remember, they're sensitive to sound, so Yasumi, try not to use those guns too often." Takagi commanded.

"Ah shucks! 'Cause I really wanted to play my dubstep right now." Yasumi sarcastically said.

"Less talking, more walking. Let's go." I demanded.

"AHH!" a female scream caught all of our attention. I could see a small group of survivors, three men and two girls, getting cornered on a staircase.

"Kohta stay up here and get a clear good shot of those zombies, and inform us if you see anything. Shizuka, stay here and protect him in case a zombie comes up from behind." I commanded. They did as they were told and Kohta aimed his gun over the safety rail as Shizuka stayed near him with his guard up. Kohta took a shot of a zombie that was in front of a male student that was stupid enough to not hit the damn zombie with the bat he was holding.

Busujima took a step on the railing looking over the survivors, then soared in the air and stroke one of the zombies when she landed, making blood splash in the ari. Takashi and I went down the stairs that lead down to the survivors, striking down a zombie that collided with the wall painting it with blood and brain remains. Yasami followed behind sitting on the stair railing and sliding down, holding his gun like a hammer, hammering every zombie with the butt of his gun that came his way.

"A bloody slide, it is." Yasumi said as he zipped pass us.

Miyamoto took a different route to the survivors, going up stairs. She spear-stabbed a zombie in the heart and kicking it down the stairs. Busujima, Takashi and I took down the three remaining zombies that were walking towards them from behind. They fell to the ground, and the saved survivors sighed in relief.

"Thank you." A female student said.

"Sh! Keep it down." Miyamoto said, coming up the stairs towards the survivors.

"Did anyone of you get bitten?" I questioned. The five survivors looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No, no one." A female student replied as she shook he head.

"It looks okay," Miyamoto said, relieved "We'll be alright."

"We found a way to escape the school. Want to come with us?" I asked, walking down the stairs.

"Sure." The same female student answered.

Locker room

We all walked down stairs, looking over the railing, and stared at the portion of zombies wondering around.

"That's a lot of them." Takashi said.

"From what I can tell, they can only react to sounds. They can't see us so it's pointless to hide." Takagi indicated.

"Then why don't you go down there?" Yasumi said. Takagi just huffed at him and looked away.

"Even though we keep going through the school, when we encounter them, we'll get stuck." Busujima said.

"We have to go through the front gate, we don't have a choice." Miyamoto prompt.

"I'll go see if Takagi's theory is correct." Shizuka stepped down. Before he could step down the last step, I grabbed him, stopping his tracks.

"No! You can't!" I whispered softly. "Let me go!"

"No Riida, I'll do it." Shizu said. I took moments to think about it. I didn't want him to die.

He's the only family I have left.

"I can do this!" Shizuka stated.

But I trust him.

"Be careful." I said under my breath, letting go of Shinzuka.

When he stepped down I waved to Kohta,

"Your nailgun is silent enough, be ready to fire if Takagi's theory is wrong." I commanded. Kohta nodded his head and aimed his gun over the stair rail.

Shizu walked slowly to the middle of the room where the zombies were roaming. When he did, I can feel my heart beat faster and faster. Maybe he's afraid as much as I am. I watched the zombies that were near him and readied my bat as I took one step down the stairs.

Please don't see.

I watched as a zombie walk towards him, it took slow intimidating steps towards him. I could just feel my heart beating through my chest, and my head pounding as fast as my heart. The zombie opened his mouth revealing saliva and rotting teeth, and I almost lifted my hand and gestured Kohta to fire, until it walk passed him and continue to roam around the room. Sweet sugar honey ice tea that almost gave me a heart attack.

I think that proves that they really can't see Shizuka.

Swiftly, Shizu picks a nearby bloody shoe by his feet, and threw it at the left direction, at the lockers, leading them away from us. He gestured us to come and slowly pushed opened the two doors. We all followed along as Yasumi and I held open the second door beside him watching everybody exiting the room.

"Man you scared the shit out of me!" I whispered softly, hoping the zombies won't hear me.

"You have no idea." He said, shaking his head.

Suddenly, while a male student we saved walked down the stairs, his weapon clinked against the stair railing. It's ringing sound seemed like it would've echoed throughout the whole school. Everybody gasped and looked back at the culprit who made the noise. We were left in dead silence for a few seconds, waiting for the echoing of the chime to cease.

"RUN!" I yelled breaking the silence, and everybody started to do so. I gestured for the student that was in the locker room to get his ass over here now. He ran as fast as he can and Shizuka and I closed the door behind him when he got out, blocking out the route of the zombie in the locker room to get to us.

"Why did you have to open your big mouth!" Takagi scolded me "We could've made it here just by taking down the ones close by if you hadn't yelled!"

"Did you even hear that! That could've echoed through the entire school. Now stop arguing and start RUNNING!" I commanded, putting great emphasis in "Running".

"You can't tell me what and what not to do!" Takagi stubbornly said, crossing her arms.

When she did, a zombie appeared behind her, and Yasumi shot its head before Takagi had the time to scream.

"Yeah I just made loud noise that might attract more zombies to us, to save your ass," Yasumi said shooting another zombie that was walking in front of him splattering blood by the nearby pillar, "Now RUN!"

Yasumi pushed Takagi repeatedly running as I followed behind them. We all ran to the crossway that had a stair case at the left that goes down and leads to the front gate. Kohta was in front of the zombies aiming his nailgun choosing between targets to shoot, couldn't figure out what zombie to shoot.

"They're too many!" He exclaimed

Shizuka, Takshi and I ran passed him and Yasumi stood beside him, shooting both of his guns that connected with most of the zombies heads as me, Shizuka, and Takashi beat down the rest of the zombies. We all at once swung our weapons near the ground to get the blood off of our weapons, and onto the ground.

"For the last time," I exclaimed, "stop talking and JUST KEEP RUNNING!"

Bus Parking Lot

Takashi and I knocked down two zombies in our way and kept running towards the one bus that was parked in the middle. I jumped in front of a zombie and swung my bat at it, making it fly across the parking lot and blood streaking across the street and the air. Shizuka ran past us and tripped a zombie, and then Yasumi ran up to the zombie he tripped and kicked it while it was in mid-air towards the other incoming zombies. Miyamoto stabbed one zombie in the chest and continued to run into other zombies, making it look like she was making a human shish kabob. Then she spun around and threw them off her broomstick and against the fence on our right.

I noticed one of the male students with a bat and a towel around his shoulder got overwhelmed and was getting torn apart, gut by gut with blood spilling everywhere by the undead. One of the girls from the group we saved called out his name, but I grabbed her sleeve before she could run to him.

"I'm sorry, but he's done for," I said as comforting as I can in the situation we were in, "We have to go now!"

"Naomi! AH!" He called out, but was interrupted by the pain of a zombie taking a bite off of him. I notice tears filling up and dripping from her eyes and she shook her head a few times.

"NO!" She yelled, getting off my grip and running towards her doomed friend.

"Wait a minute! You heard him didn't you! He's not going to make it, why are you going back to him?" Takagi questioned as the female student continued running to the group of zombies piling up on the male student.

"It's too late to stop her now! We have to keep going!" I said, pointing to the bus.

"I understand…" Marikawa took a few steps back after witnessing the scene, "If the entire world turned into this, I'd rather die with the person I love."

"Oh shut up doctor boo- Ah!" Takagi said when we stopped our tracks to get her, but was interrupted by a gunshot that killed a zombie walking to her.

"Look out!" Yasumi said followed by the sound of more shooting.

"What?" Takagi gasped.

"Looks like you need these guns more than I do." Yasumi said sarcastically, reloading his guns.

"You rude otaku!" Takagi exclaimed "Why would you interrupt me while I'm talking!"

"Hey! For the last, god forsaken, fucking time, WE. NEED. TO. LEAVE. NOW!" I finally shouted pointing at the bus. We all ran to the bus, taking down the zombies that were in the nearby zone of the bus.

"Hurry, the keys!" I commanded Marikawa, taking down the zombie that was in front of her.

We all gathered up to the door of the bus and Marikawa unlocked it, and then the bus filled in with people. Yasumi, Shizuka, and I were outside protecting the bus as everybody was struggling to get inside.

"Any day now guys!" Yasumi said, hitting a zombie in the head with the butt of his gun, leaving more traces of blood on it.

I swung the aluminum bat at a zombie in front of me, sending it soaring through the air and landed a spinning side-kick on the zombie on the left of me. Then one tried to grab me from behind, but when it did, I judo flipped it on the ground in front of me and stomped its face in, splattering blood, brain, and eye balls on the ground near the zombies head.

"Not today!" I exclaimed, pointing at it.

Shizuka strikes a zombie that was in front of me, and pushed it towards me. When he did, I roundhouse kicked it to the right side, making it fall, and stomped on its face, leaving the results of the last zombie I killed. Shizuka did a rear kick on a zombie coming up behind him, and at the same time, tripping a zombie and stabbing its face with the 9-iron while it was in mid-air. The impact of the stab went all the way through the zombie's skull. When Shizuka took it out of the skull, he swung his bloody golf club towards the ground leaving a streak of blood on the side.

"Whoa ho!" Yasumi said, spinning his guns and stopped with his arms cross pointing at two zombies. He shot both of them in the head once, jumps at the two zombies, and kicks both of them at the same time. He punches another zombie that was on the right of him, thrust punch, roundhouse, elbow and preformed an uppercut with his gun and stopped, pointing the gun at its chin.

"You're fucked." He hissed, and then pulled the trigger. The shot, made blood came out of the zombies head, like a fountain. Yasumi just left his arm up in victory and the zombie fell to the ground like a statue.

We stepped back at in front of the bus door, looking at the other distant zombies coming our way.

"Let's go inside of the bus." I commanded.

"Ladies first." Yasumi smirked.

"Haha..Cute." Shizuka sarcastically said. We all stepped inside the bus, me first, Shizuka second, and Yasumi last. When Yasumi finally stepped into the bus I got ready to slide the bus door shut, what stopped me was the sight of another group of survivors running to us.

"We can go now!" Mirakawa said.

"Wait!" I lifted my hand to Mirakawa to not start the bus.

"Who's that?" Takashi said, looking over my shoulder. I waved my hand to the group gesturing to hurry up.

"It's Mr. Shido, from class 3A." Busujima said, with a scowl.

"They're in front of us. Anymore and we won't be able to drive through here." Said Mirakawa.

"Then run over them." I said, still gesturing to the survivors.

"If doctor boobs tries to run them down, the bus will flip over." Takagi opposed.

I tried to go outside and kill the undead that was nearing the door, but Miyamoto grabbed onto my arm and shoulder, turning me around to meet the sight of her face.

"We don't have to save him!" She exclaimed, cruelly.

"I thought we agreed to get any survivors on the way!" I retorted.

"We don't have to help him," she stepped forward towards me, "Just leave him here to die!"

I shook my head and stepped aside for the other students that rushed inside the bus. After they did, I stepped towards the door, holding the handle, and scanned for any more students that were trying to get in. I saw a teacher with glasses, who I believe to be Mr. Shido, stomped on a student's face that was on the ground, and walked away from the crying student, leaving him for dead.

That gave me enough proof to not let him inside the bus, but before I had time to react he already entered the bus. I slid the bus door close when he walked in.

Why the hell did I let him in?

"Now you can go!" I acknowledged to Mirakawa, taking the first seat on the left, next to Yasami and Shizuka.

"Hang on!" She said, stepping on the gas. As she drove, we were tossed around a little by the bus.

"To the gate!" Miyamoto reminded.

"I know!" The doctor replied. When she did, she floored it and ran over many of zombies that were in the way, maybe even denting the front of the bus and leaving it with blood splatters.

The bus went airborne when the bus crashed through the gate.

"FREEDOM!" Yasumi cheered, standing up from his seat and put his fist in the air as the bus landed back down making a drift that almost sent Yasumi flying across the bus. I was able to take his sleeve and tug him back onto the bus seat.

"We did it." I sighed in relief.

"Thank god we did," Shido walked across the bus.

"I take it you have been appointed leader?" He asked Busujima who was cleaning her sword.

"We all just work together. There's no leader." Busujima answered.

"That's not good," He disappointingly said, "In order to survive we need a leader…"

"A leader who bears everything…" He looked around the room at all of us that were glaring back at him.

"With valor, with confidence." He explained.

"You'll regret this." Miyamoto said, looking over the side of her seat at me.

"I guarantee you'll regret helping him." She growled, glaring at me, as I stared back at her. From what I've witnessed,

I think I will regret this.

"Hey look, the city!" Shizuka pointed through the window.

As we drove out of the tunnel, it revealed many buildings that were smoking, polluting the air. There were many buildings that stop at the ocean with many boats that stopped in the middle of the ocean and burning, with the sun setting, coloring the sky orange. The city was quiet, and zombie infested. I wonder if there were any more survivors left, or if our families are left.

Many minutes have passed since we left the overview sight of the city, and we passed a store, running over one zombie while at it, and I could've sworn I saw a truck exited there.

"Shit…" an orange haired student hissed and stood from his seat, "Like I said, it's only dangerous if we only keep going!"

"First of all, why do we have to go with Komura and the others!" he exclaimed. All of us started to glare at the whining student, except of Mirakawa who was trying to focus on driving.

"Maybe, we should've find a safe place inside the school!" he complained. "If you asked me, I think we were better off where we were.

"There's no safe place in the school." Shizuka responded with his arms crossed, "That's why we even left in the first place."

Mirakawa couldn't focus anymore longer, and she stepped on the brake, almost making the student fall. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to the student with her big rack hanging down.

"Okay all of you! That's enough! I can't focus driving with all of this yelling!" She exclaimed along with her hanging jugs that swung side to side.

"Yeah…Whatever." He sighed. I couldn't blame the guy for thinking of a retort. She was right, and her big racks just distracted all of us guys to even think of what doing next. I shook the feeling off. I elbowed Yasumi who was sitting next to me and his eyes was just sparkling with delight.

"Huh? What?" He said, coming back to his senses.

"How about you tell me what you wanna do." Busujima said with arms crossed.

"I just can't stand this guy!" He pointed to Takashi. "I hate him!"

"Oh no…" I whispered, standing up and gesturing Yasumi to holster his handguns.

"What the hell did I ever do to you? I don't even know you." Takashi growled standing from his seat.

"You know!" He exclaimed and started to run toward Takashi. I push Takashi to the right, and strike my heel palm on the aggravated student's chest, making him step back gasping for air.

"Are you all crazy having conflicts at a time like this?" I questioned, putting my arm down. After the scene, Shido clapped his hands in astonishment.

"Bravo, bravo, simply outstanding teamwork." He complimented, walking towards me.

"I'm impressed," He said leaning on one of the seats Takagi and Kohta sat on, "I commend both of you."

"In any rate, a conflict like that only proves my point," He said "We need a leader."

"Surely you don't want a burden of this responsibility, on your shoulders." He mockingly said leaning towards me, smirking. I said nothing, but only glared at him through his triangular shaped eyeglasses.

"So you're going to run for the position then?" Takagi sarcastically said.

"I'm a teacher ," Shido leaned down to Takagi who only turned her face away from him, "And while, I'm mature, all of you are barely in your teens."

Barely in my teens? I'm freaking seventeen years old.

"That alone makes it very clear who's qualified to assume such a role." He puts both of his hands on his chest.

"I have experience!" He claimed turning to the back row of the survivors we saved.

"Why just moments ago I saved all of these brave students." He gestured towards them with an open hand and another hand being on his chest.

"What do you say guys?" He asked them.

With that stated, two female students stood up from their seat clapping, as the other students from the back side did the same. Shido simply bowed to them.

"There, you see?" He asked turning around to me, with his arms out.

"The majority of the group has made it quite clear, yes?" he mockingly stated.

"No!" I yelled at him making the students cease their clapping, "You're not a leader; you are a cold hearted murderer!"

"And as long as that is true, I'm not staying in the same bus as you." I crossed my arms.

"Me too!" Shizuka stood up.

"Count me in!" Yasumi also stood up.

Shido glared at me with his snake shaped eyes.

"Then let me show you to the exit." He hissed.

* * *

"AH!" I grunted as I hit the ground when I was kicked out of the bus.

"Gh! Dammit!" Shizuka groaned as he arched and held his back when he hit the ground. I crawled towards him as I heard his groan.

"You alright?" I asked, holding out a hand.

"I'm fine." He said, grabbing hold onto my hand as I pulled him up to his feet.

"Hey! Watch the- AH!" Yasumi grunted, but me and Shizu caught Yasami in the air in time before he could land on the ground.

"Asshole!" He yelled. We both got him to his feet and I dusted his shirt off.

Miyamoto jumped out of the bus door and followed after us.

"Are you three okay?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah. You were right about him." I replied.

"Rei!" Takashi called out.

"No I won't do it!" She turned to Takashi, "I'm going with Riida. I'm not staying here with HIM!"

Takashi ran out of the bus after Miyamoto.

"Komura!" Takagi called after him.

"Wait!" He grabbed onto Miyamoto's wrist.

I turned my head to the highway that leaded into the tunnel behind us. There was a bus approaching us at least more than 75 miles per hour. It then crashed on an nearby car and it lifted it off the ground, and watched it as it slowly crashed down to the ground.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going." Yasumi said, walking into the tunnel. I gestured Shizuka, Takashi, and Miyamoto to run into the tunnel. As we did, the bus came tumbling down towards us and blocked the way we entered. The impact made our area shake, making us all trip. I stood up and watched Yasumi walking away from the scene with the bus that was engulfed in flames behind him.

"AHAHAHAHA!" Yasumi manically laughed with his arms out until he got interrupted by debris that fell right next to him.

"Oh shit!" He panicked and ran towards us. I ran to the side of the flaming bus that had a little opening, revealing the other side of the tunnel.

"Riida!" Busujima called.

"Meet up at the East Police Station!" I called out looking out of the opening.

"Meet up there at seven o' clock!" Shizuka finally said until more debris covered up the opening.

When I turned around, a zombie engulfed with flames fell to the ground dead. Then I heard a spark from the car go off.

"IT'S GONNA BLOW!" I yelled and pointed to the end of the tunnel. We all started to run as fast as we could when the bus finally combusted and the explosion followed after us.

Once we exited the tunnel, we stopped running when we got to nearby flight of stairs that go up. I turned around and watch the scene of the flaming tunnel. Yasami, with his quick reflexes, took out both of his guns and shot two zombies with motorcycle helmets and their dead bodies fell on top of me and Takashi.

I pushed the corpse off of my body and got up, dusting off my tank top.

"I found some keys." Shizuka stood up hanging two keys from his fingers, "I searched the dead corpses after Yasumi shot them."

"There should be motorcycles nearby then." I said.

Miyamoto helped Takashi up and we all walked up the stairs, and down the highway. Yasumi and I had Takashi's arms over our shoulder's helping him walk.

"So, where are these motorcycles…?" Takashi said, then on the side of the grass was a tipped over motorcycle, and on the middle of the road that lead to the city was another motorcycle with a small sidecar on the side that could fit a small child.

I took Takashi's arm off of my shoulders and stood up the motorcycle that was on the grass, then dragged it and place it next to the other motorcycle with the sidecar.

"Shizu, the keys." I held out my hand as Shizu passed two of the keys.

I passed one of the keys to Takashi and walked to the motorcycle with the side car.

"Looks like we can fit three people on this one." Shizuka said with him and Yasumi standing beside me.

"I'll drive it." I said.

"But who's going on the sidecar?" Shizuka questioned. We both stared at eachother for a second then looked at Yasumi with a smirk.

"No…" He shook his head. We both nodded our heads at the same time.

"Aw no really? You're going to down grade me to this?" He said, pointing at the side car.

* * *

Apparently the motorcycle works, and me and Takashi were driving down the highway. I felt the breeze going through my tank top, my arms, and my face. I wish I didn't take off my school uniform shirt.

Takashi was driving with Miyamoto sitting behind him, holding onto him as I drove beside him with Shizuka behind me, and Yasumi that was able to fit on the sidecar, with his arms crossed, not amused.

"How are you guys holding up!" I yelled, trying to raise my voice over the loud engine.

"Great!" Miyamoto joyfully replied.

"Awesome!" Takashi cheerfully said.

"How about you Yasumi?" Shizuka asked.

"Oh, I'm just peachy! I think I've finally lost blood circulation going into my legs!" Yasumi sarcastically cheered.

We all laughed had a good laugh, instead of Yasumi, and we all continued to drive down the highway towards the bridge.


	4. The Living

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead**

I remember when Shizuka and I woke up to an awesome breakfast this morning.

"Eat up boys!" Mom placed a plate in front of me.

It had bacon, pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs, rice, and orange juice.

Too bad we won't have a luxury like that anymore.

"Hey look! A jet!" Shizu and Miyamoto waved to the right while Takashi and I continue to drive through the bridge.

The jet only flew past us and soared towards the city.

**Chapter 4: The Living**

I was devastated at the time we entered the city. We stopped over a railing that overlooks the city and a road that was filled with zombies.

"That's a lot of them." Shizuka said, staring down at the undead.

"To bad I can't see them, nor move my legs." Yasumi complained, still sitting in the sidecar.

"I wonder if anyone will come to rescue us." Miyamoto said.

"They're not coming." Takashi bluntly said.

"Well that's one way of putting it harshly." Yasumi remarked.

"Why not!" Miyamoto exclaimed.

"A helicopter flew past me." Yasumi stated, "Like I said to Riida, whatever they're doing, I bet it's not a search and rescue mission."

"Maybe they'll never be able to rescue us." Takashi said.

"What are we going to do with no kind of help?" Miyamoto asked.

"Whatever we can." I answered.

"That's about it." Takashi agreed.

"God, you are so predictable." Miyamoto huffed, "The glass isn't half empty with you there is no glass."

"Oooh, I sense a story here." Yasumi sarcastically awed.

"You've been this way since kinder garden." Miyamoto stated.

"We only told you the truth!" exclaimed Takashi.

"Yeah, but all of you don't need to be such a bummer about-"

"SHHH!" I interrupted, turning back. There were a group of zombies incoming from our tail. Everybody looked back towards them and glanced at each other.

"Better leave." I said, starting the motorcycle as Takashi did the same.

We both drove away from the undead beside each other.

" _Whatever happens, we both STICK TOGETHER!"_

" _Look out!"_

" _Ah!"_

I was unaware of the situation at the time. We had to escape no matter what.

" _This isn't a game!"_

And I thought we could just survive.

" _Then let me show you to the exit."_

I still stand correct.

With every challenge we all faced at the school, every attack, every shot, every drop of sweat, blood, tears, life's we lost was all our sacrifice of surviving this massacre.

Then when we got out of the school, it was still all the same.

Zombies roaming the streets looking for other victims,

And us trying to escape death's grasp.

We barely made it through.

We drove down the empty highway through the quiet breeze of the city. We passed crashed cars, blood splatters on the walls and roads, pulsing city lights and Neon signs on restaurants.

Before we knew it, our world changed in a blink of an eye.

We all stared at the broken city buildings, devastated on what the future might give us.

I even wonder if there was any future.

We stopped in front of a "Penguido" building that had a logo of a penguin and a penguin painted on the garage door. This must be the East Police Station. Or at least I think.

"There's no one here." Miyamoto woefully said.

"You think they all escaped in time?" Yasumi wondered.

"Or did they die?" Takashi said.

"But if they die, they'll become them." Miyamoto said.

"Maybe they went to find other survivors." I suggested.

I stared at the building and noticed a bloody window. Hopefully they didn't decide to go inside it.

"Look guys!" Miyamoto cheerfully said, pointing forward to a police car that only showed the headlights because the other half of it was covered by the building. We all gasped in amazement; maybe there was a spark of hope.

"Wow, no license, no helmets and stolen bikes." Takashi chuckled, "Were asking to get arrested huh?"

"Would it matter in a time like this?" Shizuka stated.

"You're right. Let's go check what's behind that corner." I said, driving the bike towards the car.

When I turned the corner, it revealed the back half of the police car smashed by a huge truck and two dead cops on the driver and passenger seat.

"That's just great!" Yasumi spoke. I turned the key to the motorcycle, turning it off, and then Shizu and I ran towards the car.

"You've got to be kidding me." Takashi said looking at the scene.

Shizuka found handcuffs, a baton, and a revolver. I picked up the revolver from the seat Shizuka laid out and clicked latch that made the cylinder come down until it stopped and revealed only 5 bullets.

"Better make this count." I said to myself putting the cylinder back in then Miyamoto walked over to me and grabbed my empty hand, and placed 5 more revolver bullets.

"The grip on the other gun was broken, but I think that the bullets good." She said, wiping her bloody hands with a pink cloth. "Bloody, but still usable."

"Well you sure know a lot about this stuff." Yasumi commented still on the sidecar.

"My dad collects guns, so I've been around it my whole life." Miyamoto replied, folding her cloth and slid it into her pocket.

"Do you know how to use it?" Miyamoto asked.

"Dad used to take us out to the range and taught us how to shoot them." Shizuka said, checking the magazine.

"So yes," I acknowledged, slipping the revolver bullets into my left pocket, "We know how to shoot a gun."

I placed the gun into my right pocket and got back onto the motorcycle with Shizuka behind me, with Yasumi waiting.

"Well took you a while." Yasumi sarcastically said.

"Should we get rid of these?" Miyamoto asked, holding out Takashi's wooden bat and her broomstick while sitting on the back of the motorcycle.

"It's best to keep them. We'll attract a lot of attention, and use up Riida's ammo, if we use the gun." Shizuka answered.

"Good point." Miyamoto said, gripping both of the weapons with one hand.

"By the way, Yasumi." Takashi called, "Where did you even get your guns?"

"Oh, my dad likes to buy a lot of guns and placing it around his house." He answered.

"Safety first." I chuckled.

"Hey, better safe than sorry." Yasumi said shrugging, "Right?"

I started the motorcycle and Takashi followed behind me while we drove down the road avoiding the nearby zombies that were walking our way.

Gas Station

Our motorcycles were almost out of gas, luckily, there was a nearby Self-Service Gas Station. Me and Takashi placed our motorcycles by one of the gas tanks. We all got off the motorcycles and Yasumi finally was able to squeeze himself off the side car.

"Victory!" Yasumi cheered standing up with his arms in the air, and then suddenly fell to the ground.

"My…legs." Yasumi muffled with his face on the ground. Shizuka and I helped lifting him to his feet.

"Hey look." Shizuka pointed to a nearby store.

"Me and Yasumi will check in there for any money. This gas station is self-serviced anyway." Shizuka said, walking towards the door.

"I'll look for any supplies while at it." Yasumi said taking Takashi's wooden bat, running to Shizu and stopping when he got beside him.

I watched them enter the shop nearby and I walk towards the two arguing students next to the other gas tank.

"I'm sorry okay!" I overheard Takashi yell, "I guess Hisashi would have the money!"

"Where did that come from! Since when did I ever compare you to Hasashi!"

"You said 'I'm the worst' didn't you! That means someone is the best, right!" Takashi retorted "That that must've meant Hisashi."

"I didn't then, but I do now." Miyamoto cruelly said.

"Hey! Both of you shut it!" I stepped in.

"Shizuka and Yasumi said they were going to look for money in the store." I said pointing to the store, "So please, stop arguing."

Both of them huffed and turned their backs on each other, leaving me in the middle. Miyamoto walked away and I followed after her. We stopped at a pillar next to the gas tank that held up the roof on the top of us.

"You okay?" I asked.

"No!" She yelled surprising me and making me flinch. She leaned her back at the wall, crossing her arms, and head staring at the ground.

"Who's Hasashi?" I asked, after a few seconds of silence.

"He was my boyfriend," She explained, tear eyed "But he got bitten by one of the teachers, and later on, turned into one of them."

"Oh…I'm sorry." I said sympathetically. Miyamoto started to sob softly at the thought of her lover turning into one of them. I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder; she looked up at me with her tearing eyes.

"It'll be alright. Try not to act upon your feeling sometimes too. Hasashi would want you two to live right?" I said, but then a sudden sound of something breaking caught my ear.

"Sounds like their having a field day." Miyamoto chuckled, wiping the tears off her eyes.

"I'll go check on Takashi," I said lifting my hand off of her shoulder and walking towards Takashi's location, "You gonna stay here?"

"I just need time to calm down." She said. I nodded my head and started to walk towards Takashi and stopped beside him.

"They sound like they're having fun." Takashi chuckled.

"Yasumi I think that's enough!"

"No, it's not! If I just keep hitting it, maybe more money will come out!"

"You idiot, just look for some medical supplies!"

The crashing noise stopped and Takashi and I looked at each other, and then busted out laughing.

"Is he always like that?" Takashi asked.

"Yep. Ever since I met him." I sighed.

"AHH!" Miyamoto's cry of help made us both ran towards her scream.

There was a huge guy, maybe about 6'0, with a bandanna under his white hat, braces on his teeth with a black T-Shirt with dark green shorts. He was behind her, holding her stomach with one arm and a switchblade to her neck with his right hand.

"Rei!" Takashi and I yelled.

"Hey, you have a fucking hot piece of ass here, ya know that?" The man maniacally laughed.

"Let go of her!" I stepped forward.

"Why would I do that!" He mockingly said "You think I'm going to go with one of those stanky zombie bitches!"

"Think again mother fucker!" He said, lifting her breasts up with his arm, revealing part of her pink bra. Miyamoto gasped at the action and still struggled to get off as he laughed maniacally laughed again.

"Jesus man, are you crazy?" Takashi asked, clenching his fists.

"Crazy? Hell yeah! My family became one of those freaks in front of me, and I had to kill every one of them! My father, mother, my grandma, and brother, and my little sister too!" He yelled.

"How can I be normal? You didn't think I would be fucked up after that!" He exclaimed, then lifted his head up and laughed maniacally.

"ATTAAAAAACK!" Yasumi screamed then jumped on the pyscho's back, choke holding him. Miyamoto ran to Takashi when Yasumi commenced his attack.

Then Shizuka came out in front of him and took the man's knife and threw it somewhere on the ground making a loud ringing noise, then elbowed him on the face.

"You little shit heads!" He spat, and then threw Yasumi on the ground in front of him.

Yasumi grunted when he was thrown and got up, then got punched down again. I watch as Shizuka tried to punch the man in the chest, but when he did, all the psycho did was laugh and kicked him down.

"You want some of this fucker!" He said, and then stomped on Shizuka's head.

I widened my eyes as I witnessed my brother being stomped on the ground repeatedly. My adrenaline kicked up again and I started running towards him.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I roared then pushed the man away from my brother.

When he got his balance, he threw a jab that I dodged, and I uppercut him in the chin. He stepped back grunting, and ran back to me swinging his arm back. He threw his haymaker that I ducked under from and I punched him straight in the nose. I felt my knuckles ache after the impact, and he stepped back and effortlessly wept off the blood from his nose. He looked at the blood on his hand and glared back at me.

"Fuck you!" He yelled, running towards me and picking up a knife next to him on the ground with his right hand.

"Kick his ass!" Yasumi cheered on, while he was refilling gas into the bikes.

He threw his arm in wild motions trying to strike at me. I was able to dodge his strikes and catch his wrist that had his knife on his hand. I threw my elbow on his bicep and grabbed his knife from his open hand. Then I stabbed him in the chest and pushed him back on the gas station tank. He grunted as he hit the ground and held onto his knife handle that was sticking out of his chest. Blood started to pump out of his wound and he cried out in pain trying to pull out his knife.

"Don't even try it." I said, pulling out my revolver and aiming for his head.

"Give a reason why I shouldn't SHOOT YOU!" I screamed. I turned my head to Shizuka who got up from the ground and walk towards me, grabbing my wrist.

"The gas, it'll explode!" The man exclaimed.

"I'm okay Riida it would be pointless to waste your ammo. He's going to bleed out anyway." He explained.

"Be glad I'm not going to shoot you." I said after minutes of thinking, placing my gun in my pocket.

"ASSHOLE!" He screamed, placing his hand near his wound. "Bleeding…I'm BLEEDING!"

"I'm going to do more than shoot you, you prick!" Miyamoto said, walking towards him with Takashi's bat.

"No need to do that Rei," Yasumi said, trying to fit his body onto the small sidecar, "I already filled in both of the motorcycles with gas while Riida was kicking his worthless ass."

"And I think we got company." Takashi said, looking back at the income zombies coming towards us. Maybe they heard the knife clinked against the floor when Shizuka threw it.

"Let's hurry then." I said.

I sat on the motorcycle and took the keys out of my pocket. I placed it in the ignition and turned the keys to start the motorcycle.

"Wait!" The man exclaimed "You can't just leave me here!"

I got off the motorcycle walking towards the man who was bleeding out. I gripped the handle on his chest and yanked it out.

"GAH!" he cried.

"There, good luck." I said tossing the knife down to the ground near him.

I walked and sat back on my motorcycle.

"Let's go." I kicked the stand away and started driving down the highway. Takashi followed behind with Miyamoto on his back.

I heard screams of pain and agony while driving away from the scene. My guess is that he didn't survive.

* * *

It's at least 4 hours since we left the gas station. The sun was up and we were driving towards the bridge we entered from, or at least it is. I don't know.

"To the police station now huh?" Shizuka asked.

"Pretty much. Remember, seven o' clock." I reminded.

"Are you okay?" I asked, glancing back at Shizuka whose hood is down and moving with the breeze.

"Yeah, just a little cut. I was able to cover my face while he was trying to stomp on me." He answered.

"That's good." I said. After the conversation, we were on the bridge.

I heard roaring sounds of a jet engine coming towards us.

"Hey. Look who came crawling back to us!" Yasumi said, pointing to the jet that was at the side of us.

"Hey!" Miyamoto waves her hand in the air, but all it flew past us again.


	5. Destruction

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead**

**Chapter 5: Destruction**

A sudden combustion happens on one of the broken semi-trucks on the road, followed by screams of terror and people running for dear life. We all witnessed the scene unfold from a distance.

"That's right, you run! All of you run like hell!" A pycho laughed maniacally followed by a shot gun blast.

"This is absolutely nuts, it's like a war out there." Miyamoto nervously said.

"I feel just like that exploded truck." Said Yasumi.

"It'll be bad if we get caught up in that." Shizuka commented.

"It's very dangerous here," Takashi revved his motorcycle "Hold on tight."

"After you." I revved my motorcycle three times until Takashi preformed a wheelie and started forward. Heh, show off.

I followed behind him once he started accelerating.

"Hey!" A bald maniac pointed at us. Two men started aim their shotguns at us.

"Really? From that far?" Yasumi mocked.

After Yasumi taunted them, a shotgun blast connected with the front tire. We swerved in different directions, burning some rubber.

"Hold on!" I braced, as we continued towards a parked car.

When we crash towards the side of the car, I found myself in the air, and crashed onto the ground, behind the side of the car. I grunted as I lifted myself off the floor noticing my revolver that fell right next to my hand. I took the gun from the floor, taking cover by the nearby car I crashed into. I'm surprised that it didn't even explode, like in the movies.

I looked over the hood of the car, noticing someone with a shotgun aiming at me. I moved my head away just in time when he pulled the trigger, with bullets whizzing pass me.

I looked over the hood again and was greeted by the sight of the asshole who almost took my head off. Quickly, I aimed at his head, exhaled, and pulled the trigger. The bullet went right through his head with blood splattering to the nearby person next to him. Apparently, blood splattered from that guy's head, and fell on top of the recent body that I killed.

I looked over to my right to see Yasumi reloading his gun. Then passed Shizuka, who just lifted himself from the ground, his second gun, along with some mags.

"What now!" Shizuka said, taking cover next to me, "If we stay in cover like this, the car will explode."

"Explosion?" I thought for a moment, "Both of you cover me!"

While I was in the motion of standing up, Shizuka placed his hand on my shoulder, pulling me down.

"What are you planning?" He questioned.

"You'll see." I said, going out of cover.

I vaulted over the hood of the car we were in cover in, shooting two people while I try to turn over the crashed motorcycle in the direction where of the fire the earlier combusted truck caused.

"Only got one shot at this." I reassured myself. Yep, no pressure.

I took cover behind the side car, hoping the maniacs that were trying to snipe me with the shotguns miss. I pushed the side car, causing the whole motorcycle move forward with it. I stared back at Yasumi and Shizuka shooting the incoming maniacs trying to kill me. I decided to look over the side car and saw a bald man with no shirt, with a tattoo on the side of his left arm.

He ran up to the side to me, before I could aim at him, he clashed my head with the butt of his shotgun. I rubbed my head to ease the pain coursing through my head, and then observed my hand I rubbed my forehead with. It was covered with blood. I looked up at the man who possibly caused me severe brain damage. He wore a maniacal, blood thirsty smile, aiming at me with his shotgun.

"See ya kid." He said, and then I moved to the side to avoid the shotgun blast and grabbed his weapon. I kicked him in the unmentionables and took the gun away while he was stunned. I stood up with the shotgun with one hand aiming at his head, he looked at me with widen eyes.

"See ya." I replied

_Click_

Damn it. I forgot to cock it.

The man was about to tackle me. When he was about to perform the act of tackling me, he fell right in front of me. I noticed a bullet hole in the side of his head that gushed out blood. I looked to my right to see Shizuka waving at me.

"Nice shot!" Yasumi complimented. I waved back at them then detected my brother pointing behind me.

"More of them!" He yelled. I turned my back, and noticed more people coming out of a hotel behind the flames of the semi-truck.

"Damn! Does he own an army or something?" I kicked the motorcycle towards the flames; running back to the orange car Shizuka and Yasumi are taking cover behind.

"Get ready!" I acknowledged, looking back at the motorcycle and aiming the engine with the revolver. I aimed and was concentrating so hard; it felt like everything was in slow motion for a second. I breathed out and took the shot.

_Boom!_

The explosion of the motorcycle chain reacted with all the other parked cars lined up next to the motorcycle. The chained explosions ended up destroying the bottom of the hotel, making the top tip over.

The ground we were standing on was shaking as we were in a earthquake. I looked at the right, noticing the ground falling apart coming towards us.

"Run!" I yelled pointing to the direction Takashi and Miyamoto drove when we attempted to escape these pycho's, which apparently was under the tipping hotel.

I started running like hell, hoping the ground under me don't give under me as well. As I continued forward, Yasumi trips in front of me, making us fell on the road. I got up and pushed him forward as he lifted himself up.

"Go!" I yelled, but we were too late. The hotel crashed right in front of both of us, and the ground under us crumbled.

I was able to grab a hotel window when about to fall, and grab hold of Yasumi's hand.

"AHHH!" Shizuka scream grew louder as he falls towards us. When he got close, Yasumi was able to grab a hold of his arm.

I am just barely hanging on to the window, and was hanging on Yasumi, who was hanging on to Shizuka, at the same time. I started to lose grip of the window.

"Hold on!" Shizuka yelled.

"I can't!" I replied struggling to get more grip even though I know that there was no way of going up since I'm holding more than two-hundred pounds under me.

"Well, I guess I'll see you both in hell." Yasumi finally remarked.

Then part of the hanging building crumbled and we I lost grip of the window. We all fell towards the ocean that was away beneath us. We all screamed, especially me who was screaming bloody Mary until as we fell with the debris into the water.


	6. Lucky

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead**

Is this it? Is this how it ends?

No!

Please god, no.

I don't want to die.

Please don't let me die!

_Splash_

**Chapter 6: Lucky**

I wake up, coughing up the ocean water that filled my lungs. I turn myself over, vomiting water onto the dirt. After that painful moment, I felt the breeze of the cold wind shiver across my spine. I finally detected that my tank top was off and my most of my torso and my black school uniform jeans is now covered with dirt. I turned back looking at the shore where the ocean dragged me. My shirt was nowhere to be found. Along with my brother and Yasumi, where the hell are they?

"Great," I sighed trying to warm myself by holding myself.

"Now I'm lost, cold, thirsty, hungry…and alone." I said to myself, struggling to lift myself off the sand.

I walked off the shore, away from the red blossom trees towards the dark buildings, and I was so tired at the time, I was struggling to walk as well as trying to endure the cold wind.

On the road, there was a small group of zombies to the right of me. As I try to sneak pass them I stepped on something I couldn't care less to know about. It made a clank sound.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath.

I jogged forward to avoid the horde of zombies, but was cut off by another zombie who turned the corner. As it rushed towards me, I dodged to the right pushing him towards the horde chasing behind me. I ran towards a dark alley, which was the only route I could take.

I stopped in my tracks when I reached the dead in the end of the alleyway. I turned around looking back at the huge horde that followed before me that started to close in on me.

"Come on Riida. Think!" I whispered to myself, looking around. I noticed a pipe that goes vertical on a building on the left of me.

"Well that's convenient." I chuckled, grabbing hold of the pipe and started to climb up.

As I pulled myself up the ledge of the roof, I lay myself back down, fatigued.

"Man that was a close one." I said relieved. To my demise, a dead groan catches my ear.

I lifted my head from the ground, noticing more zombies were on the roof limping towards me.

"How 'bout a break?" I complained as I quickly pushed myself off the ground.

I turned around, noticing a large space of the alleyway between the building and me. I took some steps back and started to run. When I got close to the edge, I lifted my leg on the extended ledge and pushed myself in the air. I soared through the air towards the next building.

My body bumped against the building but I was able to get a good grip of the ledge. I pulled myself up, revealing more zombies on the roofs.

"How many?" I vaulted the ledge I pulled myself on, running past the few zombies. I jumped again to another nearby building, performing a roll when I hit the surface of the roof.

After performing the roll, I was knocked right back down and pinned from a zombie. I moved my right hand to the side on the ground, trying to find something, at least something while was holding the zombie away from my face with my left arm on its neck.

I grabbed what I think would be a large stick, and penetrated the side of his ribs. Won't kill it but at least stun it long enough for me to get away. I pushed it to the left of me than got up. I continued to run and push away incoming zombies as I reached the next ledge of the building. I jumped towards the other building, landing right on a zombie.

I tried to run to the next ledge but this roof seems to have more zombies than the others, blocking the next ledge. I turned to the right, stopping my tracks when I reached the ledge, almost tripping. I looked back at the big horde of zombies that surrounded me.

I looked down at the building below me, noticing a faint glowing light that illuminated from the revolving window. It was a drop, five stories I think. Hell, it beats getting eaten by zombies.

I took a leap and positioned myself under the window.

Then I closed my eyes hoping for the best.

* * *

I fell through the revolving window, and collided with the ground. Wherever I was, it was warm and wet. I didn't care.

"Oh my god!" A familiar female voice exclaimed. I tried to lift myself from the ground. My arms felt like jelly and my face met the wet floor again.

"Riida!" Another familiar female voice said.

"Here, he's okay."

I remember being lifted up from the ground, but I was so exhausted at the time everything went fuzzy.

* * *

I moaned as I hazily open my eyes. I was lying back on the wall I think it hasn't been that long since I passed out.

My eyes widened as I finally realize I was in the showers.

Wow.

"He's waking up." I looked up to the left, noticing Mirakawa sitting next to me, rubbing my injured head with a cloth or something.

"What- Gh!" I grunted, holding onto my thigh when I try to stand.

"Be careful." Mirakawa said. Then I notice something else more humiliating.

I'm naked.

My face turned red as a tomato from embarrassment and covered my, um, groin region with both of my hands and crossed my legs.

"Hey you're alive… Tough night?" Busujima sarcastically said, washing her hair under a shower head.

"You have no idea." I sighed resting my head on the wall.

"Fucking hentai! Were you there the whole time?" Takagi screamed with her back turned covering the areas of her body she doesn't want me to see.

"Sorry. I didn't see what you all were doing five stories high." I shrugged.

"Five stories? You're lucky to be alive." Miyamoto said.

"Yeah." I sighed.

I quickly scanned the shower room. There was a bathtub on the left side where Miyamoto is hiding from me, I think. The left of the door where you enter the shower room is where the two shower heads are at, and which is where Takagi and Busujima were bathing themselves.

My stomach rumbled in hunger.

"I could at least use a twinke right about now." I put my arm over my growling stomach.

"I love twinkes!"

"Yeah, just how it's soft on the outside, then white cream coming out when you bite into it."

"I-I suddenly lost my appetite." I blushed, looking away.

Then the door suddenly slams open exposing Yasumi and Shizuka who happened to trip in.

"What the?" Takagi exclaimed.

"Oh! Um…" Yasumi quickly stood up, scratching the back of his head and covering his nose.

"There was some big rac- I mean rats over there." Yasumi pointed somewhere in the shower.

"A really big stack of- stock of them" He continued to make up excuses.

"A little help here." He whispered towards Shizu who was just sitting there pulling down his hood.

"How about…." Shizuka started, until both of them started to run out like hell.

"You idiots!" Takagi ferociously yelled.

"At least close the door." Miyamoto whined.

"I'll close it on my way out." I again struggle standing and limping towards the door.

As I was about to exit, I was reaching my hand towards a towel hanged on a rail until somebody decided it was funny to splash cold water on my back which made me groan for a second.

That woke me up.

I turned around to see who the culprit is, but all I see were all the girls just giggling at me.

"Ha, cute." I sarcastically laughed grabbing the towel and placing it around my waist.

As I exited the shower room, I closed the door shut and entered the nearby door on the right of the shower room.

I closed the door behind me as I entered and started to dry myself off with the towel.

When I was done, I looked at a nearby mirror that was big enough to reflect my whole body. I stepped closer to the mirror taking a good look at myself. My head was in the process of healing and my body wasn't covered in dirt anymore. You could say I'm squeaky clean. I leaned closer to the mirror to look at my face.

My eyes were bloodshot from all the exhaustion. Sleep was tempting but there's more to do.

"Heh, typical." I looked down at the sink. As I hear the door open, I looked to see who it was.

"I've found some clothes you-" Busujima stopped. I quickly reached for my towel and wrapped it around my waist.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" I said.

"Sorry, anyways I found some clothes you could wear." She said placing the folded clothes next to the sink nearby.

"Thanks." I said. She nodded to me and exited the bathroom, closing the door.

I tried on the new clothes that I was handed. I was wearing denim blue jeans, a long sleeve gray shirt that I rolled up to my elbow, white socks, and a black beanie on my head. The shoes that she gave me were not exactly shoes, but kind of like tan mountain boots. I carried them as I exited the room.

As I stepped out of the room, I heard giggles and laughing in the shower room next to me.

"What a handful." I sighed and continued my way upstairs.

After I made my up the spiral staircase, I turned to my right to see glowing light coming out of a room. I walked towards the room, placing my tan mountain boots next to the entrance. As I entered I was greeted by Takashi, Kohta, Yasumi whose nose was still bleeding, and Shizuka.

"Glad to see you're still in the land of the living." Takashi greeted.

"You lucky bastard." Yasumi greeted, wiping the blood off his nose.

"You made quite a racket, how'd you get here?" Kohta asked.

"Um… You could say I took the scenic route." I answered.

"Which is?" Shizuka urged me to continue.

"Which is to jump five stories high into the window of this place." I finished.

"Well that explains the crash." said Shizuka.

I finally noticed that my brother and Yasumi finally got a change of clothing; considering since we fell in water.

Shizuka wasn't wearing his trusty jacket, but I know that he would NEVER part with it so he must've hanged it somewhere to dry. He was wearing denim blue pants like mine and a white T-Shirt that had an eagle design on it, and on the top in Japanese it says "Defender". He also wore black socks.

"Looks like you haven't ran out of luck yet." said Yasumi.

Yasumi wore a white dress shirt under his black vest, and a red tie around his neck. He wore a black Fedora with a white trim, black dress pants, and a pair of Vans.

I looked down at the guns that were laid down on the ground with amazement. There was an Uzi SMG, Two .357 Magnums lay beside each other, Springfield M1A1, SR-25 that looked like it's been modified to function like a AR-10 Rifle, a crossbow, and a 520-30 Riot shotgun with a thing that looked like a scope attached on the top of it. All in order form top to bottom. Around the guns seems to be a bunch of bullets, magazines, and speed reload cylinders.

"Hey look at this," Yasumi knelt down beside me and handed me a speed reloader. I rotated it, looking at the six bullets that were attached.

"I filled these speed reloaders with armor piercing rounds for both my .357 Magnums." He explained pointing at one of the bullets from the speed reloader from my hand.

"Double the fun, less ammo wasted, and double the damage." He finished with satisfaction. When he did I hand him back the speed reloader.

"Take your pick." Shizu said, pointing at the laid out guns, sitting on the right corner of the bed.

"I'll do that later." I said, waving my hand.

"Hey guys, could you help? It's pretty hard to put the bullets in by myself." Kohta asked.

"You practiced with airsoft guns?" Takashi asked.

"No way," Kohta smirked, "With the real ones."

"Really?" Shizu said fascinated.

"What're you saying? You've done this before?" Takashi asked in disbelief.

"He WAS putting bullets in the mag in the first place anyway. How did you not notice that?" Yasumi remarked.

"When I went to America, I was trained by this instructor. He said he used to work in a private military company, Blackwater, for a month." Kohta clarified.

"Not so private now huh?" Yasumi sarcastically remarked. As a routine of being his bestfriend, I elbowed him in the ribs to make him shut up.

"Let him talk." I said.

"Hey, it's true!" He retorted.

"Anyway, he said he was an ex captain of the delta force." Kohta finished.

"Pretty impressive." I complimented lifting one brow and crossing my arms.

"I'm pretty glad were on the same side." Takashi gratefully said.

"Yeaah…" Kohta replied.

"How about you three?" Takashi curiously asked, glancing at Shizu, Yasumi and I.

"What about us?" I asked.

"You guys have an um, secret life?" Takashi finally asked.

"Oh we had a life," I started "There's no secret about it."

Shizu and I trained in Kajukenpo for most of all our weekends since we were 7, as well as our uncle train us for sparring tournaments. As soon as I became best friends with Yasumi, I asked if he wanted to join with us, and he humbly accepted our offer. As much as we loved to do hand to hand combat, we all loved running and jumping too. We were energetic teens after all. So we used to parkour through our neighborhood, practicing our wall scaling, climbing, and testing our endurance. And for guns, well since our dad served in the military for 18 years and was an Iraq veteran, he used to take us out on the shooting range when we became more mature, but he didn't take Yasumi. He said that he didn't feel like dying just yet. Yasumi wasn't all left out though. His dad buys tons of guns and shows them off to Yasumi. When Shizu and I come over to his house, when the dad wasn't home, we sneak some of the guns out from their cases, from Shizu's impeccable lock picking skills, and showed him what we learned.

"So you all pretty much stick through thick and thin huh?" Takashi smiled.

I stared at Yasumi and Shizuka who were smiling back.

"Pretty much." I replied also smiling.

After replying, we all turned our heads to the sound of all of the girls laughing and having fun.

"You crashed through there I presumed?" Kohta asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it." I apprehensively chuckled scratching the back of my head.

"Those girls should keep it down." Takashi commented.

"We don't need to worry about that." Shizu replied, looking out the balcony with binoculars. I nodded my head towards Shizu and we all walked towards the balcony and I leaned by the railing beside him.

"By learning the hard way, I know that they react to sound. But it seems like that bridge over there is making more noise than us." Shizu pointed at the bridge that was brightly lit up, and took the binoculars away from his eyes, handing it over to me.

I took the binoculars from his hand and proceed to place it over my eyes. I aimed it at the bridge, looking at the poor survivors being eaten by Them.

"Aw man that sucks." I sighed.

I looked over to the buildings that I was leaped off of glaring at the zombies who were again roaming aimlessly around the roof. Bastards.

I put my attention back to the bridge, noticing some riot holding up signs, and a man that leading it. Then a news crew that was recording it.

"Turn on the T.V" I said, handing the binoculars over to Shizuka, and Shizu handing it to Kohta.

"What is it?" Kohta asked.

Yasumi, Shizuka and I went back inside the room along with Takashi and Kohta. I reached over to the T.V and pressed the power button. It was already turned to the news channel. Then I jumped on the bed, positioning a pillow up to my head, watching the news. Kohta and Takashi was sitting on the floor with their back against the bed, with Yasumi sitting on the left end of the bed and Shizu on the right end.

Then it shows a man in front of a crowd who had a white hat on his head, I think one lost tooth, and a red scarf around his neck. He said something about not tolerating something of the Police Department.

"We shall not condemn this biological weapon that was made by our government! This circulation of killing pandemic developed by our government do americ-" Then the camera cut to the news reporter.

"This group which is protesting against closing the bridge is starting frustration!" She tried yelled over the big group.

"As you can hear, tension is running extremely high!"

"Killing pandemic?" Takashi said.

"I guess they're talking about Them." Kohta responded.

"We don't know what kind of group it is, but according to the flyer distributed by the group, there main purpose of this protest is to allow this killing pandemic to spread!" The news reporter explained holding up a flyer that had Japanese words on it.

"Are they serious? What biological weapon?" Takashi exclaimed in disbelief.

"This biological spreads a virus into humans which turns into a virus themselves. Their only need is to consume humanity." Yasumi explained, "and the virus will be the only one left standing."

"So we pretty much have a walking, living virus?" Shizuka commented.

"Exactly, so don't get bitten." Yasumi replied.

"But is there a way we could stop this, 'virus'?" Takashi questioned.

"The cure." Yasumi picked up one of his .357 magnums from the floor and presenting it like one of those ladies who present prizes in game shows.

Then the camera pointed to a police man who walked up to the man who was leading the protest. He lifted his revolver at the man, and shot him in the head. Then the T.V lost signal.

When the T.V lost the signal, I stared at the static with terror. After moments of watching the static, brother took the T.V remote and turned the T.V off.

"Holy shit…" Takashi nervously said.

"Wait! Wait! I wanted to watch cartoons!" Yasumi yelled.

We all glared at Yasumi with a weird face.

"What? I'm bored." He said.

"Man, this is insane…" Kohta said.

"We NEED to get out of here." Shizu said. When he did, I closed my eyes.

Just five minutes.

"No way Shizu! These things could attack us from the dark!" Kohta opposed.

Right as he said that, I feel hands wrapped around my chest. My eye twitched a little.

"Yasumi," I sighed "This isn't funny. That's kind of creeping me out."

"Um…I'm over here." Yasumi responded. When he did I briefly opened my eyes.

"Riida!" Shizu yelled. When he did I felt breathing on my neck. But I don't get it, the last time I looked at the bed, no one was on it.

As I turned my body, I got ready to elbow whatever was behind me, but stopped when I something pulled down my beanie. So I couldn't see anything.

"Help!" I started to panic. I flailed my arms around like a maniac, but felt both of my hands placed on something soft and squishy. When I did, I heard gasps, and the sound of somebody who's holding in their laugh. Obviously, that was Yasumi.

"What?" I said, squeezing it gently at least two times.

"Ah!" A female voice whimpered.

I lift the top of my beanie with my left hand to see who I was touching. As it revealed Mirakawa whose eyes were closed. I looked at her face, then to her breasts that my right hand was placed on, and then back to her face again with a nonchalant face. Then I finally widened my eyes and gasped with my jaw dropped open. Yasumi finally gave up and laughed his ass off.

I pulled down my beanie, to cover my red face, with both of my hands then I rolled over to the end of the bed, falling on the ground.

"Sorry." I muffled.

"Scared the crap outta me," I continued, lifting myself up and laying my back against the bed "This isn't a good time."

My beanie was lifted up and saw her lay her hands over both of my shoulders.

"Come on," She giggled laying her hands on both of my shoulders "It's just a little kiss."

"Kohta darling!" She started crawling to Kohta who was standing next to Shizu. I turned around and looked over the bed on my knees.

"Me? Darling? ME?" Kohta pointed at himself, smiling and blushing.

"Uh, Kohta." Shizu awkwardly said.

"Good boy, good boy." Mirakawa seductively said sliding up to Kohta's chest.

"Want a prize?" She moved closer to Kohta and kissed him on the cheek. I watched the scene looking over the bed, still sitting down with my jaw dropped.

Kohta's face turned red as a tomato, and then the blood in his head over flowed that blood came out of his nose.

"AH!" Kohta yelled as the blood from his nose sprayed out. Yasumi fell on his face on the bed and started to laugh louder, hitting the bed with his fist.

"I'm next!" Yasumi sarcastically remarked, turning himself over and wiping the tears from laughing too much.

Mirakawa crawled over to Yasumi. As she did, Yasumi stopped her.

"Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoawhoa!" Yasumi jumped up from the bed with his hands in front of his chest, standing next to me. "Didn't you hear the sarcasm in my voice?"

"Hey can you keep it down?" Shizu said walking beside Yasumi and in front of Mirakawa, while I lift myself off the floor. "And can you please go downstairs?"

"No! I'm gonna stay right here! Just like this!" She responded sitting up.

"I'm so tired that I might just pass out." She groaned, closing her eyes.

"Uhh, Doc?" I walked closer to Mirakawa who opened her eyes that met mine, she then let herself fell on me, her face laying on my chest.

"I'm so sleepy…" She yawned.

"Kohta, how about some help?" Takashi called.

"I like turtles!" Kohta unthinkingly said, walking out the balcony door.

"Takashi um…" I looked at him.

"Don't worry, I got her." He replied. I carried her and placed her on Takashi's back.

"Okay here we go. Hold on tight." He said, to Mirakawa who didn't do what he said, and started to fall back.

"Hey wait!" He said, quickly grabbing hold of her two butt cheeks.

"Ah!" Mirakawa moaned, "You're touching my butt!"

"You're naughty Komuro," She leaned over to Takashi poking his head, "Bad boy."

"Naughty." Takashi turned is head. We all started to walk towards the stairs.

"Well how could this get anymore awkward?" Yasumi chuckled. We ceased walking when we see Miyamoto who was on the stairs. She was only wearing a pink tank top and white panties.

"Am I interrupting anything?" She asked.

"Oh no! Nothing at all!" Yasumi responded. Miyamoto continued her way upstairs and walk towards us, growling at Takashi.

"But if this was another time…" Takashi said.

"Heeey," Miyamoto eyes glistened and sparkled, "You look really good in threes!"

"Uh, what?" Takashi puzzlingly responded. Miyamoto said something else I couldn't understand then fell to the floor.

"Ow…"

"You alright?" Shizu knelt down beside her.

"You too?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow and crossing my arms.

"I guess I'm just exhausted, I can't believe it's only been one day." She looked down.

To be honest, I couldn't believe it's been one day either.

"I can't get hold of my mom, or dad and…" She placed both of her clenched hands to her eyes and started to tear up. "Hasashi is dead too."

We all watched her sob in pity for a minute. But I took a look at Takashi's face. He looked, angry, I think.

"You take care of her." I said to Takashi, taking the sleeping doctor from his back and holding her in my arms.

"Hey guys, let's go."

* * *

We all walked down the spiral staircase and I placed Mirakawa on the rug in the middle of the living room.

"Here." Shizu handed me a towel. I placed the towel slowly on Mirakawa, trying not to wake her up. When I placed the towel on her she groaned softly. I only sighed.

My attention was caught by the snoring of Takagi who was lying down on a couch. She was wearing a blue tank tops, and really really really really short shorts.

My eyes scanned her body, and stopped at her cleavage that was still wet from the shower. Takagi snored again, moving herself more and kind of showed more cleavage.

"Gh." I stood up, shaking off the feeling. We all looked at the two sleeping women. Shizu stood on the right of me and Yasumi stood at the left of me.

"So, now what?" Shizu asked.

"I want some water." I said starting to walk towards the kitchen.

I took a small glass that was in the sink at started to fill it up with water from the sink faucet.

"I don't care if it's warm or not." I smiled. Pulled the handle of the sink faucet down, turning it off when water was almost overflowing the glass.

I proceed to chug the whole water down.

"Ahh." I groaned in satisfaction, wiping the water from my mouth, placing the glass back in the sink.

"Want some juice?" Shizu asked, looking in the fridge.

"Pass me one." Takashi said, walking down the stairs. Shizu took a small juice carton that said, "Tropical" and threw it to Takashi who caught the juice.

"I smell something good!" Yasumi sat in the dining table.

"Late night snack is almost ready." Busujima said "And tomorrows lunch too."

"Hey, is there a jug of wa…" I started too asked as I turned around to see Busujima's backside; which was NOTHING but a black thong she wore.

"I mean pitcher!" I exclaimed taking a few steps to the side towards the dining table.

"What is it?" She turned to me. Busujima was wearing an apron, that showed some cleavage, which went down to her thighs.

"Um… uh… nothing!" I stupidly said, stepping backwards.

"Oh, you mean this old thing?" She said, stretching out her apron by her breasts.

"I couldn't find a size that fits me, so when I'm done doing laundry I'm wearing this," She released the aprons from her hands that made her boobs bounced a little.

"I guess it's a little too revealing."

"No not at all!"

I could actually see her nipples bulging from her apron!

"Yeah I don't see a ti- a thing!" Yasumi said, pulling down his fedora to cover his red face.

"I'll just go join the others at the dining tit- table until you finish cooking." I said, placing both of my hands and holding down an erection I'm growing.

"We should prepare for a tit- attack!" Takashi awkwardly said, taking a few steps back beside me.

"You, Riida, Shizu, Yasumi, and Hirano are all watching out for us, and that's sweet." Busujima smiled.

"I just want to know how much that means to me," She said, "I mean, I really want you to know. Really."

"By the way, have you heard that she really wants you to know?" Yasumi sarcastically responded.

"Hey Takashi!" Miyamoto called, "Come up here!"

"How's she doin?" I asked Takashi.

"Just peachy." He sighed.

"You better pay attention to her." Busujima said, continuing to cook the food that was in the pot.

"At times a girl likes to, well pretend to be helpless." She said.

"Do you Ms. Busujima?" Takagi asked. She giggled.

"My friends call me by Saeko." She insisted.

"Sa- Sa" Takashi tried to say her name in disbelief.

"You can call me that after practicing." Busujima chuckled.

"Come on! Get up here!" Miyamoto impatiently calls "Takashi? Takashi!"

"You better get up there." I chuckled.

I took a seat next to Shizu who was sitting on the left of me, and Yasumi was sitting in front of me.

"Well," Yasumi started.

"Yeah." I replied.

"A lot happened today." Shizu said.

"Man, when we couldn't find you," Yasumi said, "We really thought you were dead."

"You can't get rid of me that easily." I smirked.

"Not funny man," Shizu leaned rested his head on his hand. "I really thought you were freaken dead."

"Hey," I rubbed Shizu's head. "I'm not going anywhere."

"So," I lifted my hand from Shizu's head, "What happened to you two while I was gone?"

"Well…."


	7. Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead**

Earlier

"Really? From that far?" Yasumi mocked before a shotgun blast connected on the front tire from Riida's motorcycle.

"Hold on!" Riida braced.

As they swerved in different directions, Takashi kept accelerating down the road away from the scene.

"What are you doing?" Miyamoto tugged on Takashi's school uniform, "We have to go back and help them!"

"There's a chance we could save them, but don't get your hopes up." Takashi braked and turned around the motorcycle in a 180, leaving smoke and tire tracks on the ground, and accelerating back to Riida, Shizuka, and Yasumi.

As they were halfway to the warzone, a sudden explosion shook the ground and fills the sky along with the black smoke. Takashi stopped the motorcycle, and both of them watched the building tip over under Yasumi who just tripped and Riida helping him up. Shizu tried to run back to help them.

"Look out!" Takashi and Rei called until the building fell right on top of Yasumi and Riida, with Shizuka falling with the collapsed road leading to the ocean water that was far beneath them.

The two stared at the now destroyed road and building that collapsed and fell through the road, with the three in it.

The two stared with mouths agape; dumbfounded at the three's death.

"Holy shit…" Takashi whispered, staring at the destruction.

"Your think they're…." Miyamoto unbelievingly asked, already knowing that it would be impossible to think they would have survived.

Both resumed staring for a minutes until Takashi turned the motorcycle around and continued down the road to meet up with the others at the police station.

**Chapter 7: Little Brother**

I find myself in the ocean water, six feet under the surface above me. I swim up, barely holding my breath.

As I reached the surface, I gasped and coughed for air while treading water.

"Riida!" I called after regaining my composure. "Yasumi!"

"Oh god!" Yasumi gasped as he ascends from the water.

"I hate the water." He coughed. "This is a shitty night."

I looked up to the sky to see the sun still up.

"It's day!" I replied.

"Well, whatever! It's still shitty!"

"Have you seen Riida?" I asked, turning myself around the water, only to see empty spaces in the ocean.

"Well sure he's right over…. Um where are we?" He naively asked.

"I'm no expert in location, but I think were in the ocean."

"Well that's very specific dipshit," Yasumi remarked "Even though, I don't think I've seen him. Is he-?"

"It was a long fall. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't make it…" I grieved.

"Well we can mourn about this when were out of the water." He said, caustically.

We both swam towards a nearby bridge filled with red flashing lights and a ton of traffic. As we continued to swim under the occupied bridge, we see a group of people getting sprayed with a stream of water with an impact so strong they flew off the bridge.

"Well at least the water is fine." Yasumi commented.

"This bridge is pretty high. Unless they're lucky like us, they could be dead." I said, continuing under the bridge.

"Think of this as a waterpark," Yasumi said, I stopped and glared back at him.

"Of death." He shrugged. I shook my head then continued forward.

"This bridge doesn't look promising, so let's continue on until we reach a shore far from here." I suggested.

We continue to swim, passing boats that stopped in the middle of shore, and unlucky survivors, until we reached another bridge that didn't have traffic, cops, or anything on it. To the right of the bridge was a dirt shore.

When I reached the shore, I stumbled up to my feet to walk a few steps forward, only to fall again on the wet dirt in exhaustion from how far, and how long we had to swim.

"Land!" Yasumi gasped falling on the shore as soon as he reached it.

"Oh beautiful, beautiful la- oh dog shit!" He stood back up, wiping off the dirt on his shirt.

Yasumi held out a hand to me. I grasped his hand and he lifted me up to my feet, patting me on the back.

"Now what?" Yasumi asked.

"I don't know." I sighed, "But I think Riida would say to go to the East Police Station."

"And where the hell would that be?"

"I don't know!" I snapped, looking down at the wet dirt.

"Hey," Yasumi said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to him, to see that his face was serious.

"I know that Riida's death is traumatizing, and that you're going through some stress from it, but in order to survive we have to-"

"Let him go, I know." I finished, sighing deeply.

"If we can't find the East Police Station, we could at least try to find a store with a map or something." I suggested, calming down.

"Takagi!" A faint voiced screamed, followed by a rev of a vehicle. Well both stared at where the sound came from until Yasumi broke the silence.

"Let's go!" Yasumi waved his hand and we both ran away from the shore onto the road that leads to the bridge.

"How in the hell are we going to do this?" Yasumi asked when we got to the bridge, walking between the traffic of abandoned cars.

"Wait." I stopped Yasumi looking inside one of the backseats of a truck that has a chainsaw and a bow staff.

"What are you?" Yasumi asked until I broke the window with my elbow, unfortunately, setting off the car alarm.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath.

As I reached to unlock the door, I noticed that the door was already unlocked. Groaning and rolling my eyes, I open the door and grabbed the weapons.

I handed the chainsaw to Yasumi and I took the bow staff, twirling it around for a few seconds to get used to the light weight.

The staff was 6' in height, seemed to be made by red oak. Back in the day, when Yasumi, Riida, and I, get into higher belts in martial arts, we get to practice with weapons. The bow staff was one of my favored weapons. Too bad that I didn't have it at school with me, but hell, I wasn't expecting zombies to take over. Nobody was expecting it.

"Rev, rev a go go." Yasumi chuckled holding the chainsaw with both of his hands.

"Here they come!" I yelled, noticing all the zombies walking towards the alarming truck, ignoring the hits they take while bumping along the other cars and trucks.

"Okay," said Yasumi "Any strategies? Besides dying?"

"On the trucks." I said, placing the staff on the ground next to me leaning down, back against the truck and cupping my hands together, "I'll give you a boost."

Yasumi placed his right foot on my hands, threw the chainsaw on the top of the truck then placed his left foot on my right shoulder and proceeded to pull himself up with me pushing him up.

After Yasumi got to the top of the truck, I knelt down to grab the bow staff. As I stood up, I looked at the zombies coming from all the sides between the cars, being closer than last time we checked.

"They're closing in!" I called.

"Give me your hand!" Yasumi said, holding out his right hand. I jumped and gripped his right hand and pulled myself up on top of the car.

"Alright…" Yasumi sighed as he picked up the chainsaw.

"There they are!" I pointed at the group of survivors who were holding their ground. But what really caught my eye was Takashi who was still fighting on the motorcycle. They look like they were going to be done with the remaining zombies, but with the alarm I set off, me and Yasumi attracted more zombies.

"Watch where you step." Yasumi said while we both took a step back on the truck.

"How are you going to carry that thing? Isn't it heavy?" I asked.

"I play a lot of TF2 as the heavy, so I'm good." Yasumi sarcastically said.

"Okay…" I slowly turned my head forward.

"On go." I said.

"Ready..." I started.

"Set." Yasumi continued.

"GO!" We both yelled, running to the hood of the truck and jumped on the car in front of it.

We both endlessly leaped on top of cars, kicking zombies in our way, and helping each other out when one of us started to lose our balance until we reached to the front car close to the group.

"Hey! Over there!" A voice yelled.

"Let's, DO THIS!" Yasumi rev the chainsaw once, but didn't start.

"Da fuck?" Yasumi bewilderingly looked down at the chainsaw and revved it a few more times. He hanged his head in defeat when the chainsaw failed to start.

"Fuuuck." He whined as he tosses the chainsaw to the side, possibly hitting some zombies.

"It's time for plan B." Yasumi looked down at his knuckles as he cracked them.

"Plan B?" I puzzlingly asked. "What would that be?"

Yasumi looked up to respond.

"Time to fly."

He proceeded to run to the edge of the car and leaped, grabbing one of the zombies head on his way down and slamming it on the ground, making a bloody mess.

"I've always wanted to do that!" He cheered as he stood up.

I rolled my eyes and followed behind him, pole vaulting off the car and slamming one of the zombies as I hit the ground with a basic overhead strike.

I stared back at the zombies we were running from, that now caught up with us, and the zombies the group were currently trying to kill.

I ran towards two zombies, pulling back my bow staff over my shoulder then swept them off both of their feet. I turned my back towards one zombie that was in mid-air and side kicked it, making it fly back and dropping to the ground.

I stared at the other zombie, which was currently lifting itself up, getting ready to attack.

"It's splatter time!" Yasumi exclaimed until he splashed rubble on the zombies face, only pissing it off.

Ignoring Yasumi's stupid stunt, I slammed the bow staff against the zombie's stomach, and ran to the side of the bridge. When I reached the side, I elbowed the side of its face, picked the zombie up by the legs and flipped it over the edge into the water.

I looked back at Yasumi and the others, realizing that the group was reuniting with each other. I smiled and walked towards the reunion.

"Wow," Takashi stared in amazement, "You guys actually made it."

"Wait, were you the ones that made those explosions?" Takashi questioned.

"Yeah, because we carry 50 pounds of C4!" Yasumi sarcastically remarked, naturally.

"Whoa! Badass!" Kohta awed.

"Are you two okay?" Mirakawa asked.

"Oh yeah, um, let me check pulse aaand…" Yasumi said.

"Actually, Riida was the one who saved us with that explosion." I smiled, and slapped Yasumi in the back, "And yes, we're both fine."

"But where is Riida?" Miyamoto worriedly asked which made everything silent.

My smiled faded and I stared down at the ground just thinking about the thought of my older brother dead. But it was the truth. I then felt Yasumi's arm went over my shoulder and patted my back, which made me hanged my head in sorrow with my hood hiding my face, sniffling and holding back tears in my eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Miyamoto sympathetically said. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright."

"Your older brother is a hero for saving both of you." I heard Busujima.

I can already see everybody staring down at me pitifully and felt Yasumi's hand patting my shoulder in comfort, hearing him holding back from wailing.

I sighed deeply then looked over my shoulder to see zombies coming up distant from behind us.

The damn truck alarm.

I sighed deeply and looked up.

"We need to go."

With that, everybody nodded and walked on to the other side of the bridge, with Takashi scouting ahead with his motorcycle and us walking,

In cold the dead silence.

* * *

We finally found, what I think to be, the east police station. We all found this Hummer army truck thing that Kohta seemed to know all about. We all went inside the station, which really looked like a house. All of the women went to take a bath together. Yasumi and I found some clothes since our school clothes were drenched in ocean water. I didn't want throw out my hoodie though, so I hanged it on the second floor balcony. Yasumi and I found some guns in a locker, which was a pain to open. I decided to go with the Uzi that was inside of it and Yasumi took the two Magnums' which disappointed Kohta.

While Takashi and Kohta were having a conversation I went out to the balcony.

I placed my hand on my face while leaning against the railing, sighing deeply, only thinking about my deceased brother. Everything we both did together, things we did that gained each other's trust. All of the hard work we both did together, only to all comes down to this, his death.

Fucking zombie horde.

As I mourned about my brother, I hear someone sliding the glass window that separated the balcony and the room to a close.

"Hey." Yasumi said.

"Hey…" I responded.

"Still thinking about him?" He asked, leaning right next to me by the balcony.

Again, I sighed deeply as I shook my head.

"Heh, remember all of those times we got in trouble by the security just for climbing on everything?" I smiled weakly, chuckling.

"Yeah, good thing they were all fat, so they never stood a chance to catch us." Yasumi replied, "It's just an adrenaline rush for free!"

We both continued on to reminisce our past, laughing and sharing jokes here and there, especially what we would do different if it happened again. Until I looked at one of the buildings close to the police station, seeing a figure leap from building to building.

"Hold on." I said, grabbing binoculars and placing them near my eyes, aiming at the dark figure.

My jaw dropped and eyes widened as the figure itself was my fellow brother Riida, who was shirtless and looked like we was going to pass out any second.

"It's Riida!" I yelled pointing at Riida's dark figure and giving Yasumi the binoculars.

"No fucking way!" Yasumi exclaimed, taking the binoculars.

Riida continued to leap onto building until he was cornered by a ledge. He stepped back and almost tripped. To both of our surprise, he jumped off the building.

"RIIDA!" I screamed until he fell into the police station. Me and Yasumi glanced at each other, sharing surprised faces as we heard a crash and screams from the girls.

"Shit." Yasumi said, until we both slid the glass door open.

"What the hell was that?" Takashi asked.

"Me and Yasumi will check it out. Stay here." I said, then proceeded to run down to the shower room.


	8. Alice

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own High school of The Dead I only own my OC's. And the address I create for Riida, Shizuka, and Yasumi are** **FAKE** **.**

**Chapter 8: Alice**

"Wait! So, Yasumi cried?" I laughed, almost choking on my food that Busujima made us.

"Well I couldn't see him since I was looking down, but I could hear him holding back his cry." Shizu chuckled. "So…"

"Hey!" Yasumi pointed at Shizu with his fork, almost flying crumbs of food at him. "I was not crying. I was sweating through my eyes."

"Sweating through your eyes huh?" Shizu asked caustically.

"Stop lying Yasumi," Busujima sat on an empty seat next to Yasumi, "You were about to go bawling."

We all had a good laugh, so did Yasumi who just decided to accept the fact and started to laugh with us. Three of us continued to eat the food Busujima made for us. Her cooking reminded me how mother used to cook for me and Shizu. It gave me comfort and anxiety as I sniffed in the appetizing scent of the stew, remembering mother and father and when things were normal.

"So, since were going to find our families, where do you all live?" Busujima asked, trying to start a conversation among the silence of us eating our foods.

"Oh um… 721- 9 Kibō-dōri." Shizu answered.

"How about you Yasumi?" She turned to Yasumi.

"893-7 Kibō-dōri." Yasumi said with a mouthful of food.

"Convenient that you guys live on the same street."

"Yeah, we usually try to get Yasumi up for school, but he always come la-"I was interrupted by a loud sound of barking that kept repeating.

"A dog?" Shizu said in disbelief.

"We'll go check what it is." I said, standing from my seat "Thanks for the food."

Shizu, Yasumi and I walk to the living room to see that Doctor Mirakawa and Takagi is still sleeping soundly, oblivious to the fact that the dogs bark can be heard from a mile away. We all continue towards the stairs but stop to see Takashi and Miyamoto sitting next to each other, Takashi's back on the stair rail and Miyamoto leaning up to him.

"Are  _we_ interrupting anything?" Yasumi sarcastically remarked. Takashi and Miyamoto turned their faces towards us and both quickly moved away from each other looking down in embarrassment, giving us space between them for us to walk.

"Takashi, finish up with Miyamoto and come with us." I commanded.

"Why what's wrong?" He quickly stood up.

"Possible zombie horde incoming, lets hurry." Shizu said and we all started to walk up the stairs, including Takashi.

"Anything I should do?" Miyamoto asked, stopping all of us in our tracks.

"Try to wake up the two sleeping beauties in case we all have to move out." Yasumi answered.

"Retrieve all the supplies." Shizu included.

"And use the Military Hummer if we're going anywhere." Takashi said. With that, Miyamoto nodded and we all continued up the spiral staircase.

When the group entered the bedroom, I took my boots next to the bedroom door and slid them on, tying both of them, then walked out to the balcony.

"Are they following the dogs barking?" asked Kohta.

"Nope, they're following that." Shizu pointed at the teen with a double barrel shotgun, going on a killing spree, but had no hope of surviving since the zombie horde started to circle around him.

"Hey!" Yasumi called out, waving his arm while the teen tried to reload. He flinched, dropping the shotgun shells, and glanced at Yasumi. Before he could say anything, he was tackled by one zombie then the horde started to pile up on him. Screams of agony and pain were heard. Blood splattered in the air and the cry silenced. I closed my eyes exhaled deeply. I can never get used to see someone die like this.

"Whoops." Yasumi placed his arm by his side, awkwardly.

Shizu passes me the binoculars. I placed them over my eyes and stared at down the road.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I'm thinking!"

I was scanning down the road, just to see houses, buildings, and more zombies walking towards the barking. I continued to stare down the road until I see a father holding onto his little daughter's hand. They both run through the gate and the father closes it. He made his way to the porch of the house that was lit up with lights and he started to knock on it.

"Is that a kid?" I asked, startled.

"Quit hoggin' it!" Yasumi swiped the binoculars away from me, and my vision changed dramatically, only seeing the small faint of light coming from the house down the road.

I turned my head to Yasumi, whose mouth was agape. He suddenly shoves the binoculars onto my chest and starts to climb on the railing of the balcony, and stood on it.

"Hey Yasumi! Where ya going?" Kohta asked, staring at him balancing on the rail.

"What the hell happened?" Takashi asked.

I placed the binoculars over my eyes again, aiming at the lit up house to see the father's back against the wall next to the closed gate. I then noticed the blood trail from the house, to where he's sitting, and the daughter who's crying on his body.

"Let me see." Shizu said. I gave him the goggles then glanced at Yasumi who already got himself up to the roof.

"Common! We need to help him!" I exclaimed, grabbing Shizu's still damp jacket hanging on the balcony, handing it to him.

"Here, look over there at the bright house down the road, on the left." He instructed, handing Takashi the binoculars. "Try to plan something out as we both try to help Yasumi."

"Go go go." I say hastily, as Shizu stood on the balcony railing, and then leaped onto the roof.

"What got onto Yasumi anyway?" Kohta asked as I balanced myself on the railing then jumped on the edge of the roof, lifting myself up. As I lift myself up, I looked down to Kohta.

"He has a… _soft spot,_ for children." I replied. I slid down the slanted part of the roof jumping at the edge of it and landing on the other roof on the building.

I leaped and slid down 3 houses until I caught up with Yasumi and Shizu. Yasumi running with his two magnums out and Shizu running with this bo staff on his back. My guess was that they picked up the weapons on their way to the balcony, and I didn't.

Damn it.

"Yeah, thanks for waiting!" I said, breathing in through my nose and exhaled out of my mouth repeatedly as we jumped building to building. It seemed like we were always jumping on everything, hell, it beats being down there with "Them".

"Feels like old time huh?" Shizu commented.

Old times, the time when we all didn't need to worry about anybody's life at stake. We got afraid of falling while we parkour but we all got used to the heights. A sudden sense of nostalgia hit me as I landed on another house.

"AHHH!" The girl screamed. We all got stopped on a house looking over to the brightly lit up house all the zombies were attracted to.

Are they attracted to light too?

"Only one way to get over there." Yasumi said, stepping back. Both Shizu and I followed to step back.

Without a signal but instinct, we all ran at once, jumping off the roof of the house and rolled on the landing to avoid breaking our legs. As soon as Yasumi stood up, he shot the one zombie in front of the cornered girl just in time. I witnessed Shizu shoving a zombie out the gate and slammed it shut, locking the gate.

Yasumi stepped towards the little girl, who was still trembling in the corner. Shizu and I stood beside each other, watching Yasumi approach her.

"Hey…" Yasumi said softly, kneeling down to her.

The little girl looked up at him, tears still in her eyes and down trails of it down to her cheek and chin.

"W- who are you?" She croaked.

d. "I'm Yasumi, and these are my friends Riida and Shizuka." He said gesturing to us. We both waved at the girl, smiling.

"Don't worry; we're here to help you." He said, holding out a hand.

The little girl stared at him then his hand. She then took his hand and Yasumi helped her to her feet. He walked towards us with the little girl. She looked 7 years old. She had violet hair with a white hairband on her along with big pink eyes. She wore a white sweater that went down to her stomach over her pink dress with a skirt, and also wore dark socks that went to her knees with sneakers.

"Wait a sec." Yasumi said, leaving the girl with two of us, heading towards the door of the house.

"So," I looked down at the girl "What's your name?"

"I'm Alice." She introduced herself "Alice Maresato."

"Well I'm Riida Bushi." I introduced placing a hand on my chest.

"And I'm his younger brother, Shizuka Bushi." He pointed a thumb at himself. "But you can all me Shizu."

Alice turned her head towards the dead body of her father that leaned against the wall. There was damp blood that stained the white dress shirt on his stomach. She pointed at the body.

"That's my dad." She said.

"We're sorry for your loss." Shizu said compassionately.

"HEY ASSHOLE!" Yasumi yelled, pounding on the front door with his clenched hand. We all turned to Yasumi who was still pounding on the door.

"G- Go away!" A frightened man behind the door stuttered. Yasumi stopped pounding on the door.

"GO AWAY? BITCH, I'LL DO SOME DAMAGE BEFORE WE GO!" He pulled his Magnum out of his right holster, aiming at the hinges of the door.

"Yasumi!" Shizu and I exclaimed in unison. He looked back at us furiously. He sighed deeply and holstered his Magnum back.

He kicked at the door angrily and walked back towards us, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry you had to see that." He remorse.

We all stared at the dead body next to the gate. I glanced at Shizu and we both nodded. I went to grab a small purple flower on the ground and Shizu went to get a sweater that was hanging on one of the mobile hangers outside.

We both walked to Yasumi and handed him the sweater and the flower and nodded at him. He seemed to know what we wanted him to do. We all walked towards the body, Yasumi, who took off his hat and placed it on his chest, and Alice knelt on one side as Shizu and I knelt down in front of the deceased body.

Yasumi laid the yellow sweater on top of the dead father, big enough to cover his upper torso and face.

"Now, I don't think we all could beat how brave your father was." Yasumi said, facing the flower in front of her.

_Almighty father in heaven above,_

_King of everything_

She started to tear up and take the little purple flower from Yasumi's fingers.

_Please bless the father, who protected his child with his life,_

_And watch over us as we keep going through this nightmare_

Tears started to well up in her eyes and dripped down to her chin. She slowly reached her hand towards her dad's chest.

_Guide us as we walk in the darkness_

_Provide the light we all need to seek happiness again_

She placed the purple flower onto her father's chest, and stared at the only small beautiful living thing on earth, providing reassurance of faith to somebody who laid eyes on it.

_Watch over us and protect us from the evil that will lurk within' our search_

_And protect us from the blind undead._

_Amen._

Alice was now weeping on Yasumi beside her, grabbing onto his vest and Yasumi comforted her, caressing her hair with his left and patting her back with his right hand.

Shizu finished his pray, standing, holding the bo staff vertically away from him.

How many lives? God, do you even listen to our prayers? Are you even real? My faith is awfully decreasing every minute as I see death and sadness everywhere around me. Did you abandon us? Why god?

Why? Please give me a sign that you're still here.

* * *

Minutes has passed until Alice stopped crying. Yasumi and Alice broke the embrace and Yasumi stood up.

"Great, my vest is drenched." He whispered, walking towards us placing his fedora on.

"My prayer isn't great, but it's all that I could give." Shizu shrugged at him.

"It's all we  _could_  do." I said.

"AHH!" Alice screamed as the undead noticed us and shook the gate, that Shizu, thankfully, locked.

"We gotta get out here." Yasumi said, walking towards Alice, giving her a piggyback ride.

"But how?" Shizu asked. I walked to the right side, tippy toed looking over, there was a flat fence that was high, but between them were crowded zombies.

I looked over our options as to what we should do, but I noticed that we didn't have any.

We all balanced on the thin balcony, Yasumi and Alice in the front, Shizu in the middle placing his bo staff sideways for balance, and me, in the back.

I looked down at my feet, and I slowly placed the other one in front of the other. I breathed heavily and my heart started to beat fast, looking down at the ground of zombies who were trying to reach us. A zombie almost grabbed my front foot and I gasped loudly trying to regain my balance and trying not to panic. Thankfully I gained my balance again. What seemed like a simple task took an eternity. I felt sweat trickle down my cheek to my chin. I gulped and continued on slowly, watching my steps.

I heard Alice murmured something to Yasumi that was inaudible for me to hear.

"What?" Yasumi asked.

"I- I have to pee."

"Can you hold it?" asked Shizu.

"No, I can't."

Yasumi sighed deeply, looking down.

"Okay fine. Let me help." He sighed. "Waterfalls and geysers, waterfalls and geysers, water-faa!"

Yasumi wheezed. I guess she peed on him.

"Feel better?" Shizu chuckled.

"Yep." She acknowledged and we all continued slowly.

The crowds of zombies wouldn't end. It's been an eternity walking on these things.

"Shi-" I started to lose my balance towards the left, but didn't regain it this time.

As I fell towards the zombies, I closed my eyes slowly accepting my fate. It felt like I was in slow motion. Maybe this is what it feels like before dying.

"No!" Yasumi yelled.

The slow-motion feeling stopped when a trucked slammed into me. I rolled on the hood and grabbed on the hole that was on the middle of truck that Kohta was on.

"That was too close." Kohta said, looking back at me.

"Way too close." I looked up at Busujima who held out a hand. I gripped her hand and she pulled me back up on the truck.

"Turn the truck around!"

Suddenly, the truck brakes hard, almost causing me to fall again. It U turns and drove towards Yasumi, Alice, and Shizu.

"Hurry!" Busujima called as the truck braked in front of them, until she jumped off the truck and decided to hold some zombies back.

"I need a weapon." I said. Kohta nodded and gave me the 520-30 Riot shotgun. I cocked the shotgun and aimed it to the side where all of the zombies piled up on the wall we tried to balance on.

"Get on the truck!" I exclaimed until I shot the gun. The blast of the shotgun was so strong that the recoil almost dislocated my right shoulder. The blast sends out a wave that traveled, running over zombies and toppling them over, some killed in the process.

I cocked the shotgun, and the first shell disposed itself. I noticed Yasumi that jumped onto the hood of the car and walked on towards the top of it.

"Excuse us Kohta." Yasumi said. Kohta slid inside of the truck and Alice dropped down first.

"Ah!" I heard a grunt from inside. She must've landed on top of Kohta.

"Saeko, get on!" Shizu called, waving his arm to her. She climbed on the top of the car and dropped in the hole where the truck was.

"Get inside." I commanded. Shizu went inside first as Yasumi went second.

I looked around for any undead that was too close for the car to reverse but had just enough room, so I positioned myself on a sitting position with my legs inside of the hole and fell inside.

I landed inside of the car. Noticing Mirakawa driving, Miyamoto on the passenger seat, and in the back, on the left side, Takagi, Yasumi and Alice sat together and on the right, Takashi, Shizu, and Kohta is where they sat.

I notice a white dog on Takashi's lap.

"Who's that?" I asked curiously.

"Zero."

"Was that the dog who was barking in front of the house?"

"Pretty much. I was able to grab him in time."

"FLOOR IT!" Takagi exclaimed and Mirakawa followed.

She reversed then drove forwards, ramming all of the zombies in our way with no problem as we sat here in silence, relaxing.

I sat in the back next to Busujima, letting out a relieved sigh.

This was His sign.

"What smells like piss?"


	9. Life is but a Dream

**Author's Note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool Of The Dead.**

**Chapter 9: Life is but a Dream**

_Row row row your boat_

_Gently down the stream_

_Merrily merrily merrily merrily_

_Life is but a dream_

I hazily opened my eyes to see the silk of my dark beanie blindfolding me. I lifted the part of the beanie away from my eyes, noticing I'm sitting in the middle of everybody sleeping peacefully and using each other as pillows.

That song Kohta and Alice is singing is literally driving me crazy. It's cute the first time around, but they've been singing this since the Hummer got in the water. I wonder how these people sleep to it like it's their lullaby.

"Common lets sing it again!"

Oh god…

Trying to tolerate the singing, I look around the truck examining my fellow survivors.

Shizu's hood was up and his head was hanged down, looking at the napping dog on his lap. Busujima was using his right thigh as her pillow, snoring softly. Noticing her bare back and tight thong that hugged her curves of her rump, I stopped myself from perceptually taking advantage of her body and looked away.

I look right, seeing Takashi's head up towards the ceiling with his mouth wide open and snoring while sitting on a chair with Miyamoto lying on his chest as a cushion.

Takagi was standing up through the hole. From here I could only see her legs and her really short shorts she was wearing. Mirakawa, well she was driving as always.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot your gun_

_Kill them all right now!_

_BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_

_Life is but a scream!_

"Well that's new." I overheard Yasumi, who was probably drying his clothes.

"Hey, you fat otaku!" Takagi said as she slammed on the truck. "Don't teach a little kid a song like that! Got it?"

"Okay." Kohta said in defeat.

"Oooh you've been scolded." Yasumi teasingly said like a little child.

"You also shut your mouth! God it's like I'm mothering a bunch of children."

"Wake up every one!" Mirakawa called, "We'll get to the other side soon."

I look back to Miyamoto who leaned herself off of Takashi's chest, and blushed as she stared at Takashi's posture while he slept.

The truck then tossed us around while it made its way up towards land and came to a halt.

"Rise and shine." I said, assuming the shake must've woken them all up.

Shizu yawned, stretching his arms after a good night rest.

"OOW! Hey!" Takashi screamed after Miyamoto pinched his cheek in attempt to wake him up.

"Oww, that hurt." He groaned, rubbing his cheek.

Yasumi hanged his head, upside down, through the window on the left of Shizu who was still recovering strength and consciousness from the nap he longed for.

"Well Shizu, that's as close you're ever going to get huh?" He teased. Shizu stared through the window at Yasumi.

"W-Wha?" He drowsily said.

"Your leg." I pointed at the snoring woman.

"What the- AH!" Shizu yelled in realization. Busujima woozily lifted her head up, with drops of saliva dripping from her chin, adding to the soaked puddle on his thigh.

"Uh… Saeko um…" Shizu clumsily said, sinking into his hood.

"Morning!" Yasumi waved.

"You're drooling." Miyamoto chuckled as she clings onto Takashi's arm.

Busujima's face flushed and widened her eyes. She backed away from Shizu's lap, wiping the saliva from her mouth. Amused, Yasumi laughed and lifted his head away from the window.

"Well, I'm going to get some fresh air." I said, opening the truck door. Shizu followed behind me, leaving the dog in the truck.

I closed the door after Shizu exited and Yasumi grunted as he hopped off the top of the hummer.

Yasumi's vest and white dress shirt was hanged around his arm along with his Fedora while his torso was bare. His green eyes still shined like sparkling gemstones and his red hair was spiky as ever. I wonder how he keeps it up like that. Gel? Nah, I have no clue, never bothered to ask him since we met.

"Hey Yasumi, give me a hand. I'm letting Arisu down." said Kohta that was holding Alice who's sitting on the end of the truck.

Yasumi hanged his clothes on my right forearm and hanged his Fedora on my hand then walked towards the car. Kohta proceeded to lift Alice from the car and hanged her down towards Yasumi who had his arms reaching towards her.

"D- don't look!" she said, pulling her shirt down and bending her knees. "Don't look!"

"Hey relax; I'm not like that stupid bear on the internet." Chuckled Yasumi. He grabbed her and planted her on the ground.

"Anyways, you pee on me you lose your underwear, and I lose my shirt. Fair trade."

"Hey!" Takagi grabbed Alice and embraced her with Alice's face pressed against her breasts.

"Don't be so- gh…" Takagi blushed and looked away from Yasumi after glimpsing at his toned chest and abs earned from years of hard martial arts training and endless parkour we did in the past.

"What? Like what you see?" He cocked an eyebrow and shrugged his arms. This earned him a slap in the face from Takagi.

"N-No! It's just that I'm disgusted that you've never put on your shirt yet! And don't you even dare look while we all change, or I'll give you more than a slap!" She finished scolding him, walking back towards the group of girls while Takashi and Kohta were chuckling to themselves.

"Ouch…"Yasumi whined, rubbing his red cheek.

"Here." I giggled, holding up my forearm hanged with his clothes towards Yasumi.

"Don't ever say I warned you that you're going to get your ass kicked." Shizu laughed, "Even by a girl." Shizu started laughing even harder.

"Whatever, she liked it." Yasumi said while buttoning up his white long sleeved dress shirt.

"So you're saying that girl is, who?" asked Takashi.

"Don't you know anything?" Kohta said, irritated of Takashi's lack of knowledge.

"Her name is Alice Maresato." Shizu responded.

"But I have no idea why you all call her 'Arisu'." said Yasumi as he tied his black tie around his collar.

"Her father is that newspaper reporter," said Kohta but saddened to remember the father's death, "Well, he  _was_ a newspaper reporter."

"What happened to her mother?" Takashi asked.

"She said that her father told her that she'll see her later."

"Poor girl, I really doubt that." Shizu remorsed.

"She could still be alive," Yasumi said, finished buttoning his black vest and placing his hat on his head, "You never know."

We were interrupted by the group of girls gasping in excitement. I peeked towards the side of the truck to see all of the girls gathering around a pile of clothes.

"I brought my girlfriends clothes so pick the ones you like." Mirakawa said cheeringly, kneeling by the piles of clothes.

"Hey, can I wear this jacket?"

"Oh, sure!"

"Is this the only skirt you got?"

"Pretty sexy huh?"

"Oh god! This is going to take forever." Yasumi complained placing his hands on top of his fedora.

"Well guys, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!" Kohta announced with eyes sparkled in amusement and held his thumb up.

"Like wait?" Yasumi remarked.

"I told you I don't wanna die just yet!" exclaimed Takashi.

I glanced at the little white dog next to Shizu, its small tail wagging and tongue hanging out.

"Hey! Who let you out?" Shizu knelt down to it and lifted him up, placing the dog on his head.

"Now you look like that guy from that other anime!" Yasumi said.

"Don't bark too much Zero." Kohta commanded.

"Hm…I think I've heard that name before…" I pondered. Searching through memories in my mind to recall where the reference came from.

"Maybe because it's a number." Remarked by, you know who.

"I know that! It's… ugh I can't remember." I sighed, frustrated.

"It's a plane I think." Shizu added.

"You know, after the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Used in the Pacific War." Kohta pointed out, putting an end to my pondering.

"Oh, the Zero fighter." Said Takashi

"Yeah that's it. It was used in World War two." added Shizu.

"Small and fast, just like this little guy." Takashi said, petting the dog that was lying down on the top of Shizu's hood. Zero barked in response.

Shizu took Zero and placed him down on the ground. The little energetic dog barked and started to run circles around him.

"I think he likes you." I chuckled.

"Takashi, take this." Kohta said, holding up the Riot Shotgun I used in the last encounter.

"Like I said, I don't know how to use it." Takashi refused, "A baseball bat is better for me."

Kohta started to teach Takashi how to use the shotgun. During the teaching session, I realize that I don't have a weapon to defend myself with.

"I need a weapon." I said, turning to Yasumi and Shizu.

"I told you to pick one out in the house." responded Shizu.

"Well I wasn't expecting Yasumi to run out like that."

"Hey! It was an emergency." Yasumi exclaimed.

"Either way, I need a weapon or I'm dead. I've tried to fight a zombie unarmed, and I've learned the hard way." I shuddered thinking about the close call I had while leaping roof to roof shirtless. "Luckily a huge pointy stick saved my ass."

"And you were able to kill it right?" Yasumi said.

"Barely."

"Then go find a weapon." Said Shizu. "There's bound to be a weapon here."

"Deja vu." I said, walking towards the trunk of the hummer.

My only focus on finding something for defense, I walk towards the trunk. The thought of the group of girls changing slipped my mind but slammed on my head as hard as an aluminum bat when I turned to face them over a pile of clothes.

"Oh my god!"

The girls covered up their naked bodies with only the clothes they could find while their face was flushed.

"Oh shi- I'm uh… I'm just, um." I continue to stutter mixing up all of my words while I blushed uncontrollably.

I mean come on, I see them naked in the showers but  _this_  is a whole new different thing and they can't afford me to look?

"I uh, I'm gonna go…" I said, taking a step back.

I ran back to the hood of the truck following the voice of Yasumi whose cracking up.

"You're an idiot." Shizu chuckled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Wow, did you just…" Started Takashi.

"It slipped my mind okay!" I explained.

"Oh Riida!" One of the girls voiced called. My heart paced faster as I knew that if I step out there, nothing good would come of me.

"You're in deep shit." Yasumi said teasingly also knowing I'm pretty screwed beyond measurement.

"Shut up…" I said, walking out of the front of the car. My plan was to negotiate and apologize.

"Hey, I'm sorry alri- Whoa!" I gasped staring at the women who were bearing new clean clothes with their short shorts and the short green skirts.

The lovely skirts.


	10. Doubts

**Author's Note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High school Of The Dead.**

**Chapter 10: Doubts**

I was stunned at the sudden change of attire that made the women way more attractive. So paralyzed that I didn't contemplate the presence of the guys who were standing next to me sharing baffled faces while Zero, who was on Shizu's head, only barked.

Kohta was trying to hide the fact that his nose may be bleeding, Takashi let out a gentle smile towards the girls and let out a small chuckle, Shizu's head was sinking into the dark shadows of his hoodie but the brightness of his face stood out beneath it, and Yasumi was blushing brightly and was giggling to himself.

"What's wrong Yasumi?" Takagi smirked while walking slowly towards Yasumi with her hands behind her back. Yasumi's daze was ceased when Takagi was near him. She slightly bows over with her hands still behind her to cover the distance between them so her head was a few inches from his chest. She looked up at him.

"Like what you see?" She used Yasumi's words against him.

And at that Yasumi was at lost for words. He only started to blush harder, reason being that he's staring at her cleavage that was hanging down and exposed for his eyes to explore. This made him try to painfully choose to either look at her eyes or her breasts while he managed to find a comeback. "I-I can't find a crack in your features."

Sighing, she straightened out her back and looked at the rest of us while Yasumi was scratching his head and looking at the side.

"We're going to move up the Humvee. So we need you five to stand guard." She commanded. Kohta responded with an enthusiastic "Yes ma'am!" followed by a salute. I crooked my neck around to see the steep hill the Hummer would soon be traveling on, but I still need defense.

"Well I can't guard if I don't have a gun." I gestured with both of my emptied hands out to emphasize my need for a weapon.

"I'll search inside of the Hummer for you while we're taking the Hummer up." Miyamoto favored.

I nodded my thanks to her and turned around to take my position on the bottom of the steep hill that we all made a horizontal line on. Us five shared glances towards each other to assure we were prepared with their weapons at the ready to the probable undead we might face on the top of the knoll. Kohta reached for his pouch on his waist and unstrapped the Velcro. He then slid binoculars out of it then passed me it. I caught the binoculars and placed the cord around my neck as a necklace.

We all climbed our way up towards the steep hill and checked the two sides of the empty highway. Takashi and Shizu aimed at the left side of the highway while Kohta and Yasumi had their weapons ready to fire on the right side. I stood in the middle of the line checking both of the sides through the lens of the binoculars.

Fortunately, and strangely, we were clear.

I told the standing guards that there were no zombies nearby and were clear. Takashi went to the edge of the hill and waved towards the girls.

"Well, that's a surprise." Said Shizu who lowered his guard.

"I'm not complaining." Responded Yasumi and holstered both of his magnums with crossed arms.

I make my way towards the edge of the hill to see the Hummer's progress. My thoughts conclude that it had no problem traveling up the steep knoll as the truck appears out of the edge in front of me with the bottom of the truck facing towards me that I could see all the pipes under it to keep the Hummer intact. I reacted quickly and rolled out to the side, out of the way just in time until the heavy truck fell towards the road and drifted to a stop.

"Hey! Watch where you're driving that thing!" Yasumi shouted, I assumed that he had to dodge from the itinerant Hummer.

After a semi heart attack, I stood up and stared back at the truck witnessing all of the girls exiting it. Miyamoto being one of them made her way towards me carrying a belt with pouches containing magazines attached with a holster with an unknown handgun inside of it, along with a sheathed combat knife. I quickly ran over to Miyamoto to get rid of her burden.

"These are the only things I can find." She said as we transitioned the supplies to me. "I hope you're fine with it."

"It's better than nothing." I gratefully replied, buckling the belt around my waist. It consisted of 3 pouches for each side starting from the buckle which stopped with the holster on my right side containing a gun. The pouches of magazines continued with 4 on each side of my back pockets. The colors of the pouches were a tan-ish green while the belt itself was black. I latched the sheathed knife around my left thigh. The sheath was black in color along with the handle of the knife; with circle shapes that cut through the middle of the knife handle was all I can make out of it until I take it out of its sheath.

I released the buttoned latch that was holding the gun inside of the holster and examined it. I recognized it as a Glock 19. My dad used to keep this type of gun in a case inside his night stand drawers beside where he sleeps in case of an emergency. I figured this out when it was late at night and I thought every family member in our house was sleeping, and I went out of my room to get some water, trying to be as discreet as I can to avoid waking them up. As I slowly walk down the steps towards the kitchen I hear my dog growl and cocking sounds of a gun. Dad went to check on me and I assured him that I was getting refreshment. I stared at the gun in his hand while he walks back to his room.

I compared my memories towards the gun I'm holding in my hand, concluding that this was definitely a Glock 19. I resumed examining the gun. It seemed to be in perfect shape. I moved my thumb to release the magazine inside the gun and caught it on my hand. I observed the top of the mag clip to discover that it was loaded with fifteen 9mm bullets. I slid it back inside of the handgun and made sure the safety latch was locked and holstered it back inside pouch.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." I gratefully thanked Miyamoto.

"Anytime." She replied with a grin on her face. I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Hey, can you hand me the binoculars?" Takagi asked and I complied by taking off the binoculars off my neck and handed it to her. She began to observe the towering hotels nearby the highway.

After handing her the binoculars, I stood next to Shizu and Yasumi who were examining my new attire of weapons.

"So, you found something after all." Shizu said with Zero still on his head who only barked at me.

"Yeah, but now that's settled," I turned towards the others "Whose house is the closest to our location?" I asked with the task at hand still in my mind.

"Your house is at the second block of the Hagashi Saka district, right?" Takashi asked, walking towards Takagi.

"That's right." She confirmed.

"Then your house is the closest one. We go there first." Takashi guaranteed.

I was disenchanted and troubled at that moment. I longed to go to my house along with Yasumi's. I got eager to know if our families survived or killed by the hands of 'Them.' I held myself back from objecting to them though. If it's the closest house we can find then I'm not complaining. I glanced at Shizu and Yasumi who were staring off into space which made one thing clear for me too.

They also wished to go home.

* * *

I was on the top of the truck beside Miyamoto who had her sniper on her lap. I pondered on my thoughts as we rode along and endured the bumps on the road that almost threw me off the roof. I stared and dazed out into space, envisioning everything that has happened since this outbreak has started.

My brother, my best friend, and I are paired up with a group of students we have no knowledge of, my family is nowhere to be seen and I'm worried like hell about them considering my phone was lost when I fell into the ocean so I have no means of communication, and now instead of looking for my family I'm going to a individuals house to check on her family. My fear and doubts come shadowing over me as I think more about my family, and someone else's.

The cluster of students we paired up with isn't fully strangers at least, since what we've all been through brought us closer and comfortable with them. I always helped out all of my friends in the past, this reason being why I held back from opposing from Takashi's claim on going to Takagi's house. Another reason being because I'm pretty sure Yasumi has a thing for Takagi. It doesn't really take a genius to figure that out. He could be pissed if we uninhibited them.

My thoughts were interrupted by Miyamoto's concern for me.

"What's the matter?" She finally broke the silence barrier between us. We both never even spoke a word to each other since we got on the truck.

"Nothing," I vacillated "I'm just, thinking…"

"About your family?"

She could read me like an open book.

"Yeah, that."

We both stared at the sky and the passing the occasional street lights and utility poles that connected to one another. The awkward silence started to eat away inside of me, and I just wanted someone to listen.

"I-" I started after moments of silence.

"I'm just worried about my mom and dad."

"Do you think they're dead?"

"Kinda," I winced at the image of my mutilated mom and dad that could've got done in by the zombies.

"Hey." I turned my head to meet her orange eyes. She had her hand behind her head and the wind made her long, orange hair and bangs blew to the side and the smile on her face added to the finishing touch that made her look more gorgeous. I slightly blushed at the sight.

"I know it must be hard to travel with a pack that you don't know. Including your family being in danger, but think of the present, worry what's happening right now." I blinked; surprised at the advice Miyamoto is trying her best to give me.

"And trust me, we're good people. You can trust us. And well, look at the bright side."

"What?"

"We haven't seen any single one of them since this morning."

I widened my eyes to her statement. She's right. I exhaled deeply leaned back, enjoying the rest of the silence we had until long. I know it wouldn't last but I shouldn't waste them by being alarmed. And plus, I was the one who asked whose house we should go to anyway, there should be no reason why I would refuse against to go to Takagi's home.

"Thanks Miyamoto." I smiled back at her.

"Call me Rei."

"Rei, huh?" I whispered under my breath.

I took another deep breath and exhaled. I stared at the side like I did in the past when dad had to drive us somewhere. The pink blossom tree leaves were falling like snow. The blue skies were bright with frequent fluffy clouds in the sky. I closed my eyes. Relaxing. Thinking of nothing. Letting out all of my worries and anxieties I've bottled up since the beginning and enjoyed the sounds of the hummer engine and felt my breathing rhythm. In the first time since the outbreak, I didn't feel stressed, worried, or didn't have to fear to turn the next corner expecting a zombie with an opened exposed stomach with its intestines hanging out. I smiled, enjoying the time I had with myself and knowing the improved trust I now have with the group, and with Rei.

"It's them!" I hear Kohta yell, which made my eyes opened so wide that it could've popped out of their sockets.

Aw shit.


	11. Abandoned

**Author's Note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High school Of The Dead.**

**Chapter 11: Abandoned**

It was good while it lasted.

Rei and I turned to each other sharing shocked expressions. I turned my body to look at the crowd in front of the Humvee that continued to accelerate forward.

There were more of them on the road than I anticipated.

Hundreds-maybe thousands-of alive deceased disfigured bloody bodies limping steadily towards wherever, not known, or cared, by them. Auspiciously for us they weren't in front of the Hummer.

"Distance: 30 meters!" Kohta estimated, while standing through the circular hole in the middle of the roof, observing through the lens of his binoculars.

"Odds: One thousand to eight Calculating Difficulty... Factoring Guns and Kickassery... twenty five percent chance of living one hundred percent blood splatter!" I heard Yasumi's faint voice playfully evaluate through the steel metal of the Hummer.

"Turn right!" I heard Takagi command the driver, Mirakawa, who did what she was told. The sharp right turn turned into a drift that almost threw Rei and I off to the left. I was able to get a hold of Rei's arm and pulled her to regain her balance when we almost got thrown off the truck from the sudden turn.

"Thanks." She sighed in relief after the truck stopped drifting and steadily accelerate up the road. We both positioned ourselves so were lying on top of the roof with our stomachs on the bottom, facing frontward. I looked towards the incoming horde that was only roaming and standing with hunched backs. From the corner of my eye, I see the road continuing on the left.

"Left!" I shouted but the truck kept inching towards the horde.

"Leftleftleftleft-!" I was cut off by the force of the sudden sharp turn that almost yet again, pitched Rei and I off the roof. Coincidentally, there were handle bars so we could hold onto the car and not worry about sharp turns like these to toss us off the truck.

The road we turned on led us to a big highway with four lanes. The pathway only leads forward with walls on the end of each opposite side of the four highways, along with some stairs that lead up to the next floor level. Many undead were scattered around the road, standing around waiting for their next victim to consume, and infect.

In other words, there was no turning from this one.

"Keep your head down!" I shouted to Rei and held onto my beanie to refrain it from falling off as well as holding onto her. I placed my hand on top of her head, pressing her head slightly down, right on time when the Hummer's hood connected with the first zombie that was toppled up in the air over us. This also occurred and repeated when the truck road-killed the other zombies that stood in the Humvee's way, with the occasional blood sprays that would get on my gray beanie or the hood of the truck.

After some moments of running over bodies that soared into the air behind us, I was able to realize the barbed wire in the middle of the road, acting as a gate or a barricade of some sort, which left the other side of the street empty. My eyes widened and I lifted my head. Rei also gasped when she caught the sight of the cords blocking our way, which could end up in a fatality if we collided with them.

"Stop the car!" She cried out, "Stop the car!"

"HOLY CRAP!" Yasumi cursed when he finally caught the sight of the silver steel wire.

"There are wires ahead!" Shizu spoke up.

"Turn it to the side!" Busujima's voice demanded.

I heard the screeching of the tires and smelt the burning rubber as the trucks side turns to face the horizontal cords. I held tight onto the handle bar and Rei as we prepared for the next impact. The truck drifted and rammed its side into the barbed wire that wobbled from the impact, along with a few zombies that was sandwiched between the 100 ton truck and the sharp wires. The truck kept driving along with the wire, cutting the undead open from the waist up, splattering blood and entrails on the window of the Humvee as it screeched from the scratches it was receiving from the steel rubbing against steel.

The truck then accelerated and increased in speed towards the inbound wall ahead of us.

"Hold on!"

Mirakawa's warning startled me, and then the truck unexpectedly breaks hard enough to lift up the back end of the truck. Rei and I were thrown off the truck into the air and I reached out to grab hold of her hand. Our fingertips almost touched until gravity began to take its place as I topple forward and landed hard onto the steel hood of the truck on my back, and the back of my head that bounced off the hard steel.

"GACK!" I grunted. I arched my back and tightened my eyes, trying to tolerate the sore pain traveling up my spine along with me shaking my head to recover from my dizzy state. I rolled over and viewed inside the hood to see everybody recovering their balance from the Endo the Hummer performed, with Yasumi waving at me.

"HOODwink'd I see." Yasumi still had some mordant remarks in him.

"You okay?" Shizu asked, placing Zero down on Alice's lap and readied his Uzi and bow staff. I nodded and slid back off the hood. I turned and ran towards Rei, who was trembling on the ground in front of four zombies who sensed her presence and limped towards the injured girl.

I quickly reached for my gun on my side, unlocked the safety, and shot three zombies that were lined up as each one by one fell by every shot that connected their head. I then slid my knife out of its sheath with my left hand with the knife facing down, wrapping my pinky and middle finger around the finger grooves I felt.

I stepped in front of the remaining deceased body by placing my left foot in front of it and swung my left arm back. The knife effortlessly stabbed it in its forehead that impaled the zombie's cranium, handle deep. Blood gushed quickly from the impalement and dripped down past eyes, which were rolled into the back of its head, and its chin. I swiftly slide my left foot back and followed through by throwing the zombie on the concrete by a backwards swing of my left arm towards the ground, causing the sharp knife to slash through the side of its head and was free from the bloody walls inside its skull, sending the zombie colliding onto the ground.

I looked down at the body that painted the solid ground red and its head oozed out with blood with the pink chunks of brain parts that also hung from the zombie's open hanging flesh. I cringed at the stench. I swung my knife towards the ground to clean my bloodied knife which splattered across the ground like paint, and slid it back in its sheath.

"Rei!" I gasped turning my head towards her laid down body, I quickly ran towards her as I holstered the Glock and knelt down to her, trying to sit her up.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah! S- Set me back down. It hurts." Her crackling voice painfully said. My ear caught a near hollow moan behind us. I took out my gun and aimed it behind me but except finding a walking body, I witnessed Takashi fire a shot at the nearby zombie staggering towards us.

"Awesome…" He said astonished by the power the shotgun he held was packing.

"Riida!" I turned my head to the voice that called me that seemed to be Yasumi who was waving at me while he stepped outside the Humvee's door, shooting an undead nearby.

"Go." I turned my head back at Rei with a worried look on my face. "They need your help. I'll be fine."

I replied with a simple "Okay." And stood up, jogging my way towards Yasumi that's trying to close the Humvee door. His interactions were interrupted when his wrist was suddenly grasped by a hand.

"No! Don't go!" I heard Alice pleading to Yasumi. I ran over as fast as I can to cover him.

Shizu got out of the Hummer, driving his staff onto one of the zombie's chest to keep them afar and preformed progressive blows onto nearby bodies. I finally caught up to Yasumi shooting at least two zombies on the way there.

"Alice, this really, really isn't a good time to be-"

"Don't leave!" She continued to beg, her eyes filling with tears as she did.

"Yasumi, just get in the Hummer and talk to her!" I said with urgency. "Come back out when you're ready."

I didn't give him the chance to oppose. There wasn't any time to talk out here anyway. I only turned from him, aiming my gun and firing the huge crowd.

Yasumi better hurry up, because we need all the help we can get.

* * *

I huffed when Riida turned from me without giving me any second to talk. I guided Alice inside the Hummer and followed suit, closing the door.

"Alice…" I started, taking a seat beside her and facing towards her. "What's wrong? I haven't seen you like this before."

Right when my rear touches the cushion of the seat, Alice gives hugs me tightly almost making me gasp for air.

"Please don't leave me!" She cried I looked down towards her, her face facing up to me. "I don't want to be alone again…"

Her teary eyes and the little plead was enough for me to forgive her for interrupting the starting of my zombie slaughter so I complied by hugging her back as tight as she's hugging me.

"I promise. I am NOT leaving." I quietly said.

"But, you have to understand," I said breaking the hug and making eye contact with Alice.

"I have to help our friends out there. I promise I won't be away from the Hummer long."

"C-can I do anything to help?" She sniffed. I pondered on the question until Zero barked at me. Near the dog was the bag of ammunition.

"You can help Kohta with ammo. Listen to everything he says to you while I'm gone." I instructed her, pointing at the bag. "Understand?"

She smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgement. I smiled back as I rubbed her head. We both shared a last hug together before I head out to join the carnage, assuring her that I will come back.

"And never forget this. You are never alone. Your father will always be watching you whenever you feel sad and by yourself." I added, still hugging Alice who seemed to never let go. I looked down at her one last time. Her face looked up at me, smiling along with her tears that still lingered in the corners of her eyes, I winced and closed my eyes.

I'll kill every last one of those bastards.

Eventually, we broke the hug and before I was the first to the door, Takagi cuts in front of me. I cocked an eyebrow.

"Whoa whoa there, speedy Gonzales! Where do you think you're going?" I gripped onto her shoulder, turning her around towards me.

"What does it look like? I'm going to help." She said stubbornly. I then realized that while I was speaking to Alice, she was there witnessing it firsthand.

"How much did you hear?" I asked. Takagi gently smiled.

"Enough."

* * *

"Damn!" Shizu said after depleting one less zombie to worry about. "They just keep coming!"

"Hold your ground!" I responded. I aimed my sights at a zombies head and send brain parts spraying towards a zombie beside it that seemed to kept walking like nothing even happened.

I pulled the trigger again to hear the nail in the gun hit nothing and the slide of the gun , released the magazine and pulled out a full loaded mag from my pouch. I slid the mag in the Glock, hitting the bottom once with the palm of my hand to make sure it's secured. I released the slide lock and the Glock's slide slid back in place and I was ready to get to killing again.

"Takagi!" Yasumi screamed. I looked over to Takagi who just got out of the Hummer. Takagi faced a zombie who was close to her face and stared at it with a petrified expresstion. Saeko was the first to react and strike the zombie first, splattering blood and other body fluids onto Takagi.

"Look at me!" She screamed along with saying the brand of her outfit while loading the gun and firing from the hip with intent of just killing those damn zombies who ruined her suit. Yasumi surprisingly didn't laugh but joined her on her little killing spree.

The sky color changed from a bright blue to a darkening orange over the past few hours of holding off. We all managed to hold off a little longer than I thought, but we knew that any time now, our inevitable death is inching closer and closer as we kept killing away at the dead.

Let's just say that were staring death in the face.

"Shit!" I said, loading a clip into my gun. "Ammo check!"

"Three mags!" Shizu called, loading also loading a clip into his Uzi.

"I'm on my two last clips!" Yasumi added. "How are you doing?"

I released the slide lock.

"Two left!"

Everyone except the three of us was left with no ammo, except Saeko who was using blunt force all of this time. Sweat trickled down my cheek as to what we should to do in this sort of situation and crowd of zombies inching their way closer isn't making me think any faster, but thinking about my last prayers.

A bark caught my ear and I turned my head towards the Hummer and there was little Zero leaping into the air out of the Humvee.

"Zero!" Shizu called out before the dog land took a bit out of a near zombie's ankle. The body just ignored the dog and kept walking. I sighed and chuckled a little from the dog's feeble attempt to help us and shot the zombie it was assaulting.

"Any ideas?" I asked the two beside me. I was left there in silence for at least a minute before Shizu let out a gasp of realization.

"Sound!" He stated, "We have to lure them away with sound!"

"But how? I don't think we'll all make enough noise to attract  _ALL_  of them." Said Yasumi.

"Well if it's going to lure them away from our friends, then I say let's do it." I sternly said, taking a step forward, only stopping from Yasumi's hand on my shoulder.

"It's suicide!" He exclaimed.

"Hey!" I said turning, his hand falling from my shoulder. "Since when were you the one to give up?"

"I don't know if I can't emphasize this enough you two but, they're inches away from us! If we don't act now, we'll all get eaten alive!" Shizu stepped in, ending the argument before it even started.

"Fine then!" Yasumi said aggressively stomping forward, "I'll kill all of them!"

"Right with you!" Shizu said, taking a step forward beside him.

I deeply exhaled taking place between both of them and slowly sliding the knife out from the holster on my left thigh. I took a look at the environment over the crowd of zombies, planning out our actions before acting. There was a staircase diagonal from where we stand, which is the left of the Hummer. If we cut our way towards the staircase, we could get upper ground, find a way behind them, and make as much noise as we could to get all of their attention.

"Follow me." I commanded, getting in a running stance, both of my hands holding onto the Glock with the knife facing down, still on my left palm.

"Well, it was a good life." Yasumi made his final sarcastic remark.

"And, we  _will_  hold on to our last breath. We're not done yet." Shizu added.

"But how long  _will_ we last? I'll tell both of you now, we will not expire here!" I proclaimed.

"CHARGE!"

With no hesitation, the three of us ran with no fear of death. We all let out battle cries as we inch our way closer to the huge crowd of a thousand zombies.

I started with the zombie in front of me, swinging the bottom of the knife still holding my gun with both of my hands to the right leaving me looking over my arm after slitting the throat of the zombie. I swung my hand down like a hammer and nailed the knife in the zombie's forehead, then lifting my knee in front of myself and kicking the zombie in front of me. The zombie clashed into a group and created a way closer to the staircase, but still lead to more zombies.

Shizu came up behind me and twirled his bow staff around, mowing down every zombie that came his way for at least four yards towards the stairs until he ended his spree by striking a zombie down. Yasumi took his place, running in front of Shizu and had his turn of assailing the zombies. He struck lays down a fury of brutal punches and kicks that came in contact with every abomination that stood his way. Shizu and I started to take place in the carnage and I mauled and mowed down every one of them with my knife, shooting them occasionally.

Finally we got to the stairs all got to the stairs after the bloodshed.

"OVER HERE!" Shizu said, spraying his gun in the air. We attracted several zombies that we lead to the back, then coming back to the big crowd and shooting our guns up in the air.

After we made two trips we all eventually ran out of ammo, and I Yasumi started to bang both of his magnums on the railing over looking at the zombies, that were way closer to our friends, started to inch closely.

"Come on! Come on! COME ON!" the stressed Yasumi exclaimed at no one particular.

"JUMP OVER THE WIRE!" Shizu loudly suggested.

I only stood at the back of both of them, and I looked behind me to the path that leads towards closer to home. The distant restaurants and districts started to come into memory as I observed the path more. But I know that Yasumi and Shizu would disagree with what I would suggest, but it seems that we have no choice.

"Guys…" I called. Shizu and Yasumi stared back at me with hopeful expressions of one of me having a desperate plan. I gulped, couldn't bear to say what I wanted to. I only turned my head and gestured towards the path behind us.

Knowing what I was suggesting, they both widened their eyes.

"Riida there must be some way that we could save them!" Yasumi opposed.

"I have to agree." Shizu stepped in, "We're going to  _abandon_  them? That's just wrong Riida!"

"Then what's your idea?" I shouted before they could continue to speak against me. This only made it harder for me, and I hesitated to speak.

My hesitation left me with Yasumi turning towards the stairs and pacing to them.

"YASUMI STOP!" I shouted as I quickly placed a hand on his shoulder and forcibly turned him around. Yasumi only pulled away from my grasp.

"Then what in the FUCK are we supposed to do, huh? Leave them?" Tears started to form in Yasumi's bloodshot eyes. I couldn't bear to seem him in this state, so I turned my back from him, facing the path.

I heard sniffling and suddenly Yasumi just walks pass me, towards the path.

"Yasumi I-"

"JUST!" He lifted a hand and deeply inhaled, "J-just don't talk…"

He continued to the path, stomping as he did. I looked back to Shizu with a tear running down my cheek. He only shook his head and walked slowly after Yasumi. I watched both of them walk, and then looked back towards our friends. The zombies would be on them any second now. I stared at Rei. I didn't know if she noticed that I was, but I noticed Takashi glaring at me. I only closed my eyes for a moment then walked on the path.

I tried to hold in the tears, but knowing that Yasumi is pissed at me and the probable fact that both Shizu and Yasumi doesn't trust me anymore almost made me sob. Even when the thought that I know the past group we were close with are now dead almost made me fall to my knees.

I looked up to the heavens and whispered silently.

"God…what have I done?"

**End of Chapter**


	12. Charade

**Author's Note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High school Of The Dead.**

I open my eyes, groaning from the lingering pain on my head that bled, as I felt blood running down my cheek. As I open my eyes a bright light blurs my vision and I squinted from the sudden radiance until my eyes adjusted.

When it did, I was greeted my two adult men and from what I can tell, they're armed.

"Wakey wakey." Said a deep voice that must've come from one of them. Before I know it, someone wakes me up with a hard slap to my face which made my head swing right. I groan once more feeling the stinging pain that remained on my cheek.

As my senses came back to me, I try to stand from what I was sitting on to find that I was bound to the chair with my wrists tied together to the back of it. I panic more, knowing the exact situation I'm in now, pulling and tugging at the tight tied rope that roughly rubbed against my wrists.

"Hey!" One person says as he moves my head up to sock me in the face. I tried to regain consciousness again after the hit, looking down and feeling my nose bleed. I look around to see at least four men around me, smiling at me with a temptation to take a hit at me.

"Why don't you just kill me already?" I said with annoyance.

"Boss won't let us." A huge brawny man with a white tank top and green jeans said as he taking a step towards the front of me. "And frankly, I'm glad he won't."

"Because before he gives us the order to actually kill you, we get to have fun and hear you scream while we torture you to the point where you'll be begging for death to take a hold on ya kid." He said, tugging at my gray shirt while he brought his fist to connect it to my face, making the back of my head impact with the chair.

He slowly continued to land other blows to my stomach making sure they were powerful enough to knock the wind out of me as well as striking my head. It painfully hard to endure, before I started to cough up blood. After many painful minutes that felt like hours. A door slammed open.

"He's here!" Said a person which made my assailant stop mid punch that I was ready to endure. He huffed mixed in with a low growl and walked away with dissatisfaction. I sighed in relief of the ending of the beating, along with a chuckle of the man who didn't get the satisfaction of giving me his full torment and spat blood on the floor.

The men line up in front of me horizontally as the unknown man walked towards us. Since these idiots were in front of me, I couldn't get a glimpse of what this individual looked like.

The two men concealing me behind them stepped away revealing the figure. It continued walking closer to me until the light above me touches his face until I recognized who it was.

"Well look who woke up."

**Chapter 12: Charade**

1 Day earlier 

The orange sky finally darkened after the hours of continuous climbing. I was ahead leading Yasumi and Shizu who followed suit before me. I sighed; both of them still won't speak to me after what happened hours ago. It wasn't like I wanted to leave our group, but it didn't look like we had a choice. I still hope their okay, even against those odds.

But Yasumi and Shizu are safe and that's what matters.

Just knowing that, I could rest easy in this hell of a world.

After jumping onto a house and running towards the ledge of it I came to a stop to look across the area below us. Shizu and Yasumi finally caught up taking a place beside me.

"We're almost there." Shizu said while looking down at the street.

"The road is unusually clear too. Think it's safe to go down?" Shizu questionably suggested. I took a brief look down.

He was right. The deserted street goes on for miles. The zombies must've gone for the group. I shuddered at the reminder.

"Sure, we could use a break from climbing." I responded after shaking my thoughts away from our former group.

"Alright then, let's go." Yasumi said along with grappling on a nearby pipe and sliding down.

I turned my head to Shizu who looked at me with a worried expression. I sighed and followed Yasumi, sliding down the pipe until it the trail stopped at an adequate height that I can jump down without breaking my legs. I walk towards Yasumi whose back was turned and from what I can tell from his posture, he was crossing his arms.

"Yasumi. Listen to me." I started, walking towards him. He turns around.

"Why? You're not planning on leaving me and Shizu behind now?" He said with an impatient tone.

"Of course not! You know that I wouldn't do that. We look after each other."

"Then explain why we left them!"

"You know exactly why!"

"GUYS!" Shizu broke the argument. We both looked at him surprised of him raising his voice. He lifted his hand and gestured towards the road that leads to our street, Kibo-Dori. "Let's go home."

I closed my eyes for a moment. He's right. We're so close to home and an argument is the last thing we need right now. I nodded and opened my eyes in agreement. We all walked towards the road, passing by abandoned cars and blood splatters that covered the ground. We all walk in silence, not taking a glance at one another.

Minutes later after walking I could see Shizu and I's house. It was two stories high and ever so close to our reach. I hope mom and dad are okay.

Or if they're still there.

"Home… Finally." I said.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Shizu chuckled.

"Let's go!" Yasumi exclaimed happily, and not to mention it's the happiest I've ever heard him today.

We started to jog towards the two story blue house. Finally. We did it.

All of us have been through hell trying to get here. This is it. Our efforts finally pay off. I can finally see mom, dad, and Yasumi's father again and we'll all be safe.

And nothing is going to stop me from making this stretch of hope.

"Help! Please." We all slowed down to a stop as a man appeared, bending down and limping towards us. He looked up to us.

"Please…Help me!" He reached a hand towards us.

"Is he infected or something?" Shizu whispered as we all stared at him.

"Well whatever it is, he's injured! We have to help him." Yasumi proclaimed and ran towards the injured man before Shizu, or I protest.

I guess another act of kindness wouldn't hurt.

Shizu and I caught up with Yasumi, who caught the man and laid him down on the street. Shizu and I knelt down next to the man. I was the first to speak.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Let's move his hand and see." Yasumi said lifting the man's bloodied hand from his injury he tried his best to cover. When his hand was away from his injury, it just looked like a bloody shirt to me. It looked like he wasn't injured at all.

…Looked like he wasn't' injured at all…

"NOW!" He shouted as he pulled out his handgun and aimed at Shizu. I reacted by grabbing his wrist and pulling it as the gun shot the bullet and hit nothing but air and slammed my elbow down at his face.

I then proceed to grab his hair and pulled his head up to bring the back of his head slamming down on the concrete road. The impact of the force was enough to make the man fall unconscious.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" A man said as he ran up to me with an aluminum bat.

"Move back! Move back!" I called to Shizu and Yasumi, gesturing them to get the hell up and get to safety.

I quickly swiped the handgun from the not so injured man as well as duck from the bat swing from my assailant. When he did I stood back to see him turn around as I kicked him. He finally lost his balance and fell to the floor and I walked up towards him, kicking the bat away as I did. He suddenly pounced up to grab me from the neck and pinned me against the wall. I grabbed one of his wrists with my left arm as I tried to resist from his grasp.

I then realized that I still had grip on the gun I was holding, and placed the gun point on the bottom of his chin. When my gun came in contact with his head, he widened his eyes. I hesitated at first. Sure, it's easy to kill a zombie, since it was a dead body. But killing a living person felt different. I've never done it before.

But it was him, or me and my brothers.

I closed my eyes and shot the man. The gunshot echoed down the street and definitely heard from our other former ambushers. Hopefully any zombies never heard the shot. His grip finally loosened and I gasped for air, holding onto my neck, watching the body fall. When body fell to the ground it revealed many other people that I don't know, staring at me with shocked faces.

To my demise, Yasumi and Shizu were already overwhelmed and on the ground…Dead?

No, thank god, they were still breathing heavily but were now out cold.

"NOOO!" Another person screamed and I see him running up towards me. He then tried to land a punch but I was quick enough to dodge his slow, powerful hit that connected with the wall.

I then aimed the gun at him, but he swiftly side kicked me in the stomach making me gasped for air. I bend down from the sudden blow and was greeted with another sharp pain that connected with my face that knocked me on the ground.

Get up you bastard, get up!

Though my grasp on the gun was gone I still fear no death, but wanted to bring revenge on what these bastards did to my brothers. Another man that decided he want in on the action ran towards me as I stood up. I simply step to the side and precisely hit the man's temple with the back of my knuckles with full force which knocked him out. Other than one man, a full group started to run towards me.

Keep fighting damn it. Keep fighting!

I started side stepping away to let them chase me and change directions while I tried to line them up so I was able to take them down one at a time. The man closest to me ran towards me with intent to kill. My reflexes took a hold of me as I caught his wrist while he tried to hit me and striking his chin with the heel of my palm. I then positioned him behind me, kicking him. He fell to the ground disorientated. The other man almost caught me by surprise as he threw a haymaker I thankfully ducked, and rose back up upper cutting him.

I was unexpectedly grabbed from behind into a full nelson. I struggled from his grasp until a punch to my gut knocked the wind out of me.

"You bitch!" The attacker yelled before striking me in the stomach again making me gasp from the lack of air. I then lifted my legs off the ground steadying myself using the man holding me, and kicked him away from me. I then planted my feet back on the ground, lifting my face down, and hitting the man behind me with the back of my head. He let go, but I shook my head from the head butt.

"God that hurt."

The second thing I know, I was tackled and pinned down to the ground. I endured the pain from the fall and placed my fists against my face, ready to defend myself. I blocked his first punch and hooked him in the face. I then arched my back and tried to lift my body off the ground, which was hard because of the weight of the man pinning me down. I then punched him in the crotch, and threw him towards the side.

As I tried to get up, someone kicks me back down, slamming down a two by four towards my head. I was able to dodge it but someone grabbed a hold of my head and I see the man lifting up the wooden plan over his head. I tried to grab the one who was grappling my face, but I was too late when the plank started to crash down upon my head.

I closed my eyes, ready for the blow.

* * *

"What do you want?" I said, finally recognizing the culprit with the two by four. He had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. He wore a dirtied black shirt with rugged denim jeans. He responded by taking out my combat knife out its sheath and said with a deep, daunting tone.

"Revenge."


	13. Kidnapped

**Author's Note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High school Of The Dead.**

**Chapter 13: Kidnapped**

"Revenge? I don't even know who you are or if I've even seen you in my whole life! What the hell did I do?" I asked harshly.

"You killed my brother! Damn it!" He shouted back at me.

"W-what?"

"The man you shot? He was my brother!"

I tried to recall the man I've shot in my memories since the time I was jumped, though it wasn't easy since I got knocked in the head with a two by four. As I thought, I recollected that the man I shot did look similar to the man in front of me. Brown hair, shorter than the man in front of me, and a bat, couldn't remember the rest because, well, he was going to bash my head with that bat.

"He was your brother?"

"Yeah! And you killed him!"

"Listen man, I'm sorry. Can we just talk about this?" I tried to reply as sympathetically as I can.

"Sorry but, 'sorry' isn't going to bring my brother back, and you're not in the position to negotiate." He said taking a step forward and pointing the knife close to my left eye.

"You don't understand what it's like to lose your own brother! I'll make you pay."

As he say those words, I could've swore my heart stopped for a second remembering Yasumi and Shizu, and the possible way he might take revenge on me.

"I suppose those two are your relatives? 'Cause if you don't know them they're not important to us and we'll exterminate them quickly." He said, lifting down the knife from my eye. I was enraged and let my entire emotions spill out.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH THEM!" I exclaimed gritting my teeth.

"What are  _you_  gonna do?" He smirked, placing the tip of the knife on my chest and pressing down on it. I felt the knife go deep in my skin then tear apart as he slowly proceeds to cut across. I tried to endure the sharp pain slowly tracing across my chest until as I tried to muffle my grunts I couldn't take the pain.

"Hah… Gah, GRAAHAAAH!" He finally took the knife out of my skin, placing it back in its holster. I looked down at my stinging incision that tore through my shirt. It started near my left shoulder, cutting across diagonally.

"You…bastard. I said between breaths. He turned from me, walking to the door.

"Don't you lay your hands on them!" I screamed before he slams the door behind him.

"Aw, you gonna cry?" A thug laughed while closing in towards me.

"Yeah, keep on laughing…" I whispered. Now's the time to escape, but how?

I took notice that the chair was fairly short enough that my feet are in contact with the ground along with the fact that they weren't tied. I'll try to ignore the cut. Hopefully he didn't cut anything important. I have no idea if my plan was going to work, but it's worth the risk if I'm going to save my little brother and my best friend.

I only have one shot at this.

The thug grasped onto the collar of my shirt and tugged me towards him. As he did, I head butt him then kicked him away. I winced as I felt an aching pain course my brain. God, after what my head's been through that was the last thing I wanted to do.

"GET HIM!" He said as someone complied with his command and charged at me while I stood up.

I stepped back, waiting for the man to get close enough and when he did I swung around, hitting him with the side of the chair. He stumbled from the attack and fell on the ground. I then ran to him and jumped, facing the chair at him as I fell. The chair collapsed into pieces as I collided with the poor bastard, knocking him out. Maybe breaking a few ribs.

"He's free!" Another said as I stood up, my bounded hands behind me, I'm not exactly free yet. I cursed at the rope holding my hands together then jumped, placing my knees as high as I could to swing both of my tied arms forward while in air so I could at least have a chance of defending myself.

Another man ran up to me throwing a punch. I caught his punch with both of my hands, twisting it counter clockwise enough to hear a crack and a scream that came from him. I then kicked the back of his knees so that he was kneeling. I grabbed a hold of his face then brought my knee to his chin, knocking him out cold.

"Shit!" Another enemy said as he hesitated to brawl with me.

"He's tied up!"

"Did you see what he did to that guy?"

"Get him!" said the hefty man as he pushed him, stumbling towards me. He caught his balance and lifted both of his hands into a fighting stance.

"Come on kid let's see what you've got." He whispered as he got to his fighting stance and circled around. I did the same, analyzing his movements and open areas where I could attack when suddenly the muscular man grabbed a hold on me.

"I got him!"

I struggled against his deathly hug as the man ran towards me winding up a punch. As he drove the punch, I lifted my legs to catch his punch, then pulling him. As he was tugged closer, I kicked the man in the chin with the heel of my boot which quickly knocked him out cold. I then bit on the man's arm as hard as I could as he held me for a few moments until he grunted in pain and push me away. I lost my balance, but recovered by rolling on the ground to my feet and faced him. I watched him as he took out a knife.

"You've got to be kidding." I said. Hey, this reminds me of the guy who took Rei hostage at the gas station but more muscular, and ten times more intimidating.

"Let's go big guy." I said timidly. We circled around the room waiting for someone to make the first move. I considered attacking but his intimidating size, the knife he has, the fact that my hands are tied together made me more uncertain of my survival of a head on brawl.

I scanned the area for any object I could use for my advantage then noticed that there was an M4 laid against the wall beside where the man stood. The only question is how I'm going to get to it. We stopped circling around each other moments after until he got impatient and went for the attack, his strike only swinging at the air as I ducked under it. I countered by kneeing him in the groin and stepped pass him as he bend down from his injury, then kicked behind me, making him stumble. I ran to the M4, picking it up by the stock with my hands. I heard yelling that came behind me as I looked back to see him already behind my ready to make an overhead blow. I lifted the M4 to hear his knife scratched against metal. I then kicked him away from me then closed the distance as I changed from holding the stock to griping onto the hand guard so I'm holding the gun as a bat. I swung at his head but he reacted quickly by ducking then slitting my cheek once when I tried to jump back from his attack. I ignored the stinging pain. I glared at him as he stared at me smirking as he was proud of his strike making contact.

We stopped to circle around more staring at one another with a desire to kill with mine for an intention to survive, and if killing him is necessary, I will kill. I came up positioning the M4 over my shoulder. I jerked as I was going to swing at his head again and he ducked as he did when he dodged it previously. As he did, instead of swinging for his head, I swung up to hit his chin. His head went up, staggering backwards. I continued by swinging at the side of his chest which must've broke some of his ribs, then fell face down. I tossed the gun up, which wasn't necessary but was the quickest way I could grab a hold of the grip. I aimed at point blank rage at his face and readied my index finger on the trigger. He lifted his face and widened his eyes in horror.

"P-please! No-"

_RATATATATA!_

Blood and possibly all the parts of his head went flying on the ground and splattered all over the nearest wall. I watched his body fall lifelessly on the ground, a pool of blood gushing out beneath him, the open head being the cause of it. I placed down the gun and kneeled down, grabbing the knife out of the body's hand, positioning it so I could start sawing. I then moved my hands in slow vertical motions as I sawed the rope bounding my wrists together until it snapped apart and the rope fell on the ground along with the knife. I rubbed both of my wrists, trying to lessen the tension it has from both of them being tied together for a while. Suddenly, loud, pacing footstep increases in volume as it hurried towards the door. I snatched the knife off the ground as I hurried hiding beside the door.

"I heard gunshots. What the hell is-" The voice said as he opened the door and gasping. They then started to walk slowly towards the room. I waited until he got in my sights. He looks around, viewing at my work and I started slowly following behind him slowly closing in.

"Holy shi- MRPH!" I interrupted by placing my left hand over his mouth and stabbing his neck. Sounds of gurgling started coming from him then I felt a warm liquid sensation overflowing my hand, which I finally pulled the knife from his throat and he fell on the ground, gurgling up blood and his hands gripping at his neck. I kneeled down and ended his misery by stabbing his heart which instantly killed him.

I stood up, sliding the knife in my pocket then closing the door. When I did, I jerked my hand back to find my bloody hand print on the doorknob. I stared back at my bloody palm. I closed my eyes and sighed. I wasn't proud of what I did, but I had no time to linger. Shizu and Yasumi are stuck in here and I plan to find them. I wiped my hand on my shirt then finally realized about my gash across my chest that I thankfully didn't rub my bloody hand on. From what I could recall from what Yasumi told me about why doctors cut shirts to treat a wound. Lint or something might get caught in the injury. I didn't want any of that so I took my shirt off carefully so that my cut wasn't affected. I then continued to wipe the rest of the blood on my hand and cleaned my bloody knife before tossing it to the side when I finished up. I obtained the M4 from the ground, checking if there were any bullets left in the magazine. I placed the mag in the rifle after confirming that it was still loaded.

"Alright guys. I'm coming." I said, taking a step in front of the door. I slowly opened the door, slightly peeking out the small creak. I examined both sides, both being empty.

"Okay…" I said to myself, walking out the door and slowly closing it. "Here we go."


	14. Unwelcoming

**Author's Note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High school Of The Dead.**

**Chapter 14: Unwelcoming**

Shizuka tossed and turned in his sleep, portraying his struggle in his dreams. He continued to do so until a loud, continuous, banging sound awoke him. He blinked a few times before trying to get up, only to find that he couldn't. Cold sweat formed down from his brow and his body felt like wax. Shizuka looked down to see rope tied around his torso with both hands handcuffed separately onto something he's unaware of. He cursed silently noticing that his jacket wasn't on him. Until he could think, he heard the sound of voices.

"Was that a gunshot?"

"Hell if I know."

"Go check it out. I'll watch them." It was silent for a few seconds before he heard footsteps, along with the creaking of an opening door and then a slam.

Shizuka tried to look around to find that he was in some kind of hotel room, a big one. It included a balcony with a sliding glass door that had red velvet curtains that cover the outside. Shizu was able to roughly determine that its ten in the morning. He over his shoulder noticing a rather wide pole that went up towards the ceiling. He also noticed that the rope that was tied tight on him looped around the pole. Shizuka could make out a figure that was bounded to the other side of the pole him. He looked down to find that both of his wrists were handcuffed with the unknown person bound to him.

"H-hey…" Shizuka whispered. He started to tug on his wrists the best he could in hopes to get his unknown inmate to wake up. He shuffled a bit in response.

"Wake up!" He exclaimed in a whisper. The person then flinched.

"What the?" He said. Shizuka knew well whose voice that belonged to.

"Yasumi?"

"Shizuka?" Yasumi looked around the room he's in, noticing the same details as Shizuka did and his apparel only consisting of his dirty white dress shirt and his black dress pants, his vest and fedora nowhere to be seen.

"Where the hell are we?" Yasumi asked, in a frustrated tone.

"In a hotel it seems." Shizuka predicted.

"And where the hell is Riida?"

Shizuka was about to answer the question when he heard the sound of the footsteps slowly growing louder to their position with every step. A man with long dark brown hair, a black T-shirt and rugged denim jeans appeared with a smug smirk across his face. Both Yasumi and Shizuka turned their attention to him.

"He's being taken care of, don't you worry." The man said adding a sinister chuckle.

"Where the hell is he?" Shizuka demanded.

The man said nothing, taking out Riida's knife, slowly unsheathing it as Shizu and Yasumi noticed the blood covering the steel. Both could only dread who's blood it's could have been.

"Oh no." Shizuka widened his eyes.

"What the FUCK did you do with him?!" Yasumi screamed ferociously at the man.

"I gave him what he deserved of course! Watch your tone next time boy, if you don't want to end up like him." The man growled back at Yasumi, smirking. The only response is a murderous glare from Yasumi and Shizuka together burning a hole through him.

"How does it feel?" He started after minutes of staring, "Having someone you love…taken away?"

"Fuck you." said Shizuka.

"Horrible isn't it?!" The man shouted. He then walked in front of Shizuka, kneeling down and placing Riida's knife on his throat.

"Now like brothers, you'll share the pain he felt-" He was interrupted by the door slamming open and a person running towards the man.

"Jurno!" He called as he made his way towards the man. The man whose name is apparently Jurno sighed, taking the knife away from Shizuka's neck and stood up.

"Spit it out, what is it?" He ordered. His follower caught his breath before starting.

"We have a problem. We have intruders fighting off our men, a teenage boy and a girl. They're losing ammo and still trying to kill them, as we speak." He explained. Jurno's face instantly formed into a scorn.

"How the hell did you dumb asses let two kids get in here?!" He violently shouted at the man, making him nervous and stumble more upon his words.

"W- we have them pinned down in a corner right now, but the more ammo we use, the more noise we ma-"

"I know that you fucking imbecile!" He screamed. He glared at him for a few minutes before he looked back at the two captured prisoners.

"We'll finish this later. Stay where you are." Jurno assured pointing the bloodied knife and grinning at Shizuka before pushing his messenger towards the exit. The slamming of the door echoed across the room as the two was left in silence.

"…Well he's a pissy guy huh?" Yasumi broke the silence.

"Yeah…" Shizuka responded. Jurno's attitude wasn't the thing that he cared about but if he really did kill Riida. This is the second time that he assumed that his eldest brother is deceased and like the last time, he's worried sick if his brother was killed.

"…So do you think he's telling the truth?" Yasumi asked concerned.

"I…I don't know…" Shizuka answered, hanging his head. "But if we're going to find out, we have to get out of this, somehow."

Both looked back beyond the pole, staring at each other. Hoping one would come up with an idea of how to escape their prison. Shizuka thought about how much things has happened so fast. They were so close to home.

Home.

The man they found who faked his injury appeared out of nowhere, as well as the group who ambushed them. It explained why the streets of Kibo-Dori were so clear. It was all a trap, and the fact that the street is where their home resides makes it more certain that they took the bait. It also posses another possibility; their houses on the street could also taken over. There was no home to go to. Where will they go next if they were to ever survive their endeavor?

Most importantly, where were they taken away?

* * *

I grabbed the patrolling thug away from his routes into the corner turn of a hallway that lead to a dead end, holding on to his wrist where his weapon is being held and pinned him against the wall with my knife pressed against his throat.

"Scream and I kill you. Try to escape and I'll shoot you down." I quickly said.

"Fuck! What do you want?" He spoke cautiously.

"Where the hell are my damn brothers?" I growled.

"Sh- shit I don't know." That wasn't the answer I was looking for. I symbolized that by putting more pressure into the knife on his throat.

"Gah! They- they're in the king suite!" He struggled to say but was able to get the words out.

"What floor?" I released pressure by a little, but wasn't going to take my knife from his throat yet.

"The top!"

"Room number?"

"Dammit I don't remember! Just take the first left and the room is in the end of the corridor."

I searched my mind for any more questions that filled it, but I'm not so sure that a mere follower is going to answer all of them. So I hatched an idea and decided to be done of him.

"Thanks." I ended the conversation by striking the thugs chin with my elbow with enough force to knock him out cold. I caught his body as he fell to the ground.

Pocketing my knife, I opened the nearest door I could find, wishing for dumb luck that it was unlocked. I was appalled when I heard a clicking sound and the door opened. I picked up my M4, the thugs M4 that he dropped, placing them onto a counter in the room. I dragged the unconscious body into the hotel room, closing the door. Heaving the body onto the bed, I laid him down and started to unbuckle his belt that had pouches. I examined the inside to find that they were magazines for the rifle. I laid that on the side, taking off whatever accessories he had and laid them to the side with the belt. As I searched, I had a red cap, sunglasses, a clean black handkerchief with a flowery pattern it has on the corners with diamond-ish figures filling up the middle of it, and a cheap silver wrist watch. I took off the man's shirt, putting it on and being weary of the incision on my chest. I placed the belt with the M4 filled pouches on.

Looking at my face in the bathroom mirror, I would describe my appearance, in short, looking like crap. The slit on my left cheek bled only a little now, also with my nose. Bruises started to form and the bags on my eyes displays that I'm, and I am, deprived from sleep. I soaked up some blood on my face and nose with the handkerchief and tied it around my face. I placed the sunglasses on as well as the red cap on my head. From what I could hope for, I do look like one of the mans soldiers, and hoped that the accessories on my face don't raise any alarms.

With the M4 in hand I left the apartment leaving the half naked unconscious man to be discovered by his subordinates for a later time. Turning the corner of the hallway I see HIM, that bastard who's responsible for the cut across my chest, and the kidnapping, or possible death, or my brothers. Under my mask, I scowled at him, wanting to shoot him down right then and there. Hell, I should have done it when I had the chance. He was walking with a man possibly leading him to somewhere, or guarding him, or both. I watched them continue to walk down the corridor before the bastard looked at me.

"You, come with us." He commanded. Not wanting alert any suspicions, I indignantly follow suit.

"When did they start to shoot?" He asked as we all passed a hallway and walk into the closed doors of an elevator. The boss of this whole group slips out a blue card from his pocket and slid it down the indented line vertically from the panel, and he pressed the button with a down arrow, and it glowed after his selection. I decide to listen in on their conversation as we all waited for the lift.

"Uh," The thug thought "About three minutes ago?"

"And they're still goin' at it?" The man questioned.

"Yeah." The man's thug answered. The ding of the elevator indicated the arrival of the lift, followed by sliding doors that allowed us to enter. The,  _leader,_  selected the lobby floor and the elevator took a second to respond before the ground's gravity started to shift in motion as we descended slowly.

Sweating as we all waited in silence for the elevator to descend to it's destination, I glare at the man who kidnapped us into this damned hotel. Then the situation hit me like a bat.

I'm armed and I bear the element of surprise. I can end this all... Right now... But, what about the people keeping their lobby patrol preoccupied, who the hell are they? If I kill him right now, I wouldn't have to worry about him doing this again to us. To anyone else.

What about his little army he has? Will they come after me? So many conflicting thoughts, I couldn't just come to an answer. What the fuck am I doing?

I turn the safety of the M4 off silently, not attracting the attention of the two men in the elevator before gradually aiming my weapon towards the fucker who brought me, Shizuka, and Yasumi all in this place.

Before I could even point the barrel down at the man, the elevator comes to a halt along with another ding, and he rushes out the doors as soon as they slid open with the other man following him. Taking a moment to sigh heavily, I shook my head at missing the opportunity that I may never easily get again.

Unbelievable.

Exiting the elevator and catching up with the two, they opened the door to the lobby and the noise of rapid gunfire suddenly deafened my eardrums. We all broke out into a jog down the hallway with lights on each side.

Upon turning the corner, we enter the lobby. The ceiling was high and it hanged a noticeably big chandelier as well as other fancy looking lamps that hung, some providing light while most are shorted out, broken, or just pulsating. The middle of the lobby had a red carpet that stretched out the double wooden door entrance of the hotel, down to the registration table that was also wooden and curved into the wall, the only entrance being two spaces on the end where its supposed to be connected to the wall. Three men with rifles shot at a metal overturned table behind the registration table.

Around the table was other waiting tables as well as couches and chairs that seemed untouched since the the zombie outbreak. All looked as if they were left in a state of evacuation as well as dry blood marks stained where bodies of unlucky survivors laid. The men here must have took the bodies out once they decided to reside here I thought.

"CEASE FIRE!" The man erupted loudly. The three assailants did as they were told as they stopped and lowered their weapons. The man took his pistol out of this holster, pointing it at the knocked down table. The man gestured with his left hand, as he pointed his gun, to stand by him.

Again, I followed his orders, standing beside him on the right as the other man did to his left as we both aimed our rifles to the table. "Come out!" Commanded the man. Seconds later, the intruders did so, as the slowly stood up with their hands up. I widened my eyes in shock as I recognized their faces.

The two mysterious intruders were Takashi and Saeko!

"Drop the sword, lady." The man said. I noticed that Saeko had a sheathed sword in her right hand. Where did she get that? Takashi looked at her as she did the same, nodding. Saeko then, slowly knelt down and dropped the sword before standing back up with her hands to the sky.

"These two?" The man chuckled in disbelief as as he lowered his gun and looked back at the three who continuously shot at the table, who are standing in the front of registration now. Me and the other men still aimed at Takashi and Saeko as he looked back at them until he stared back at the two.

"Who are you two anyway?" He casually pointed his gun at them, not in a shooting matter. Both stayed quiet and glared at him until Takashi spoke.

"I'm Takashi." Saeko spoke next.

"Saeko."

"Hmm. Saeko and Takashi." The man thought. "Well don't just stand there like idiots. State your business."

"Both of us wanted to talk about our friends you have." Saeko claimed. Wait, how did they know that we got captured? More importantly, how the hell did they get out of the horde?

"What friends?" The man questioned. "You know who." Takashi said, glaring at the man. The man only scoffed at them. "Sorry, they're not for sale." He said holstering his handgun. "Even though, trespassing someones property isn't a way to starting a negotiation." He stared at both of them as they stared back. He waved his hand as he turned "Show them out. We don't need any guests here." he told us.

"Hey!" Takashi spoke up, stopping the man in his steps. "I don't care who you are or if this is your property or not. You have our friends and you're going to hand them back one way or another!" The man turned back with a wicked grin across his face. "Hand them back, or else." Takashi stepped forward, as me and the other man's aim followed Takashi's body. The man did the same before they there face to face with each other. Takashi glaring intimidatingly into his eyes as he continued to smirk, immune to Takashi's staring.

"You and what army?" The man mocked.

"This one!" Saeko also stepped forward. Seconds passed as the two stared in each others eyes until the man stepped back, the smirk now disappeared and a serious tone in his voice spoke "Fine, if you wish to see them that much, you'll join them."

"What?!" The two exclaimed before the soldier on the left of the shithead took Saeko in a full nelson as she struggled in his grasp.

"Saeko!" Takashi cried as he tried to run to her help before I, trying to play along the bad guy role, stopped him in his tracks by swinging my arm to his face, making him fall on his back. As he tried to stand, I pointed the assault rifle towards his face while standing over him. I saw the horror in his face as he saw the barrel pointed between his eyes before glaring at me.

"Hahaha, nice one boys." The man chuckled. "I'll let both of you pick their rooms for that. As for the three of you!" He pointed at the three, horrified men by the registration, "You're coming with me." They stared at each other with horrified face, and I suddenly felt bad for them. "Come on! Let's go." He commanded as the three reluctantly followed suit behind him in the hallway.

The apposed "moment of glory" was only short lived, as the four left, Saeko kicked her leg up on the man's head and he let go of her, stumbling back. As I stared, appalled on how flexible Saeko was, Takashi took that opportunity to attack. Pinning me down to the ground with me losing my grip on my assault rifle. I blocked his attempts to punch me in the face as I grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards my fist. Another hook took him off of me as he tumbled to the side. I quickly got up to meet Saeko's preparing a swing from her sword. Luckily, I ducked from it, performing a leg sweep as I turned in a 360 degree with my leg out to trip her.

As the attack connected, I quickly swiped my M4 from the ground and aimed it at both of them as they stumblingly stood from the ground. They both stared at me, Saeko quietly questioning "Who are you?"

"Funny you should ask." I responded as I lowered the M4, untying the handkerchief around my face.


	15. Whispered Apologies

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own Highschool of the Dead. The original series is written by Daisuke Sato. This is a nonprofit, fan-made work of fiction. Reader discretion is advised.**

**Chapter 15: Whispered Apologies**

I slowly pulled the dark handkerchief away from my face, also dropping my sunglasses and hat to the floor, totally revealing my battered, bruised, and cut face as I looked at both Takashi and Saeko. They both shared shocked expressions as they stared at me.

"Riida?!" Takashi exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowed and his optics glared into mine. I clenched firmly on the soft cloth I held in my hand, turning my gaze aside to avoid Takashi's death-stare. The silence that ensued seemed eternal and the painful sound of ringing filled my head as I try to regain my composure.

"Takashi, Saeko... I..." My words trailed from me. I don't even know where to begin. Even with the comfort of Takashi and Saeko's safety, what am I supposed to say? 'Oh hey! Sorry for leaving you with a thousand zombies to eat you alive?'

Being careful with my next words, I slowly turned my sight towards the two while speaking, "I... can't express how-"

Instead of gazing at the sight of the duo, a fist swiftly came into full view followed by a sharp pain to my nose that caused me to stumble back. Quickly regaining my balance, I instinctively prepared to defend another attack. Spotting Takashi stepping forward and charging a straight punch, I lifted my left arm up just in time to defend it. Takashi didn't pulled his fist away, which left us both in a stare down.

I found myself in eye contact with Takashi's brown iris' once more, his piercing stare increasingly intensified up close. His temptation to strike again was undoubtedly noticeable and I braced myself to defend another blow. I don't blame him either, I would've wanted to beat the crap outta me.

"Takashi-"

"You left us to die." He growled lowly.

"Takashi!" Saeko's voice emanated loudly before Takashi was forcibly pulled away before me. He was turned to face Saeko, her hand remaining on his shoulder as she continued, "If it wasn't for Riida, Rei would be dead!"

"The others are okay?" I spoke up, using the handkerchief to stop the blood dripping from my nostrils, and they both turned their heads to my direction.

"Takagi's family appeared on the other side of the wires. They saved us and helped them over." Saeko elaborated, sliding her hand off Takashi's shoulder, as her tension seemed to ease effortlessly. Closing my eyes, I exhaled audibly as an invisible force released from my chest.

"They all survived? You don't know how happy I am to hear that!" I exclaimed in delight, not noticing the smile plastered on my face. It seemed to make Saeko smile a little, but Takashi only continued staring daggers into me.

"Why are you both here anyway? How did you even know where we were?" I asked.

"We were searching for you guys," Takashi answered, "Alice... Alice begged us to find all three of you."

My heart sunk down to my stomach. If Takagi's family wasn't there, the child would have been...

"We found all three of you being carried by a group of people. We were able to tail them to this hotel." Saeko added, unsheathing her sword a bit from it's crimson colored case and examining the exposed blade.

"Where is Shizuka and Yasumi anyway?!" Takashi brusted out in question.

I grit my teeth as a flood of emotions swept through me like a tsunami. As I closed my eyes, I could recall the the sight of Shizuka and Yasumi passed out on the street in front of our house. Then that  _leader,_ or  _boss_  that orders these people around, I recall him in front of me while I was tied to that flimsy chair and his enthusiastic, psychotic voice rang through my head.

Disorderly forcing my bloodied hankie into my back pocket, I opened my eyes and looked at them with a grimace.

"That bastard..." I snarled, walking towards the M4 that laid on the dirtied wooden panel ground, "He's holding them on the top floor. I need to get there- AUGH!"

A sudden burning sensation filled my chest, causing me to fall to my knees on the ground next to the M4, and I lift my hand to press my shirt against the incision my chest suffered. "Dammit!"

"What's wrong?!" I overhear Saeko's call, looking up to see both Takashi and her rushing to my side.

"I'm alright." I said with a dismissive wave of my hand and retrieved the rifle. Takashi's hand wrapped around my arm and helped pull me to my feet.

"That doesn't look alright to me." Takashi said, pointing to my chest. I looked down to discover a diagonal, damp spot that streaked across the red cotton shirt I donned.

"Let me see it." Saeko said as she stepped in front of me and her digits proceeded to slip under my shirt.

"We don't have time for this!" I protested, placing a halting grasp on her wrist.

"Riida, if you're injured, you're only going to slow us down." Saeko sternly said, "I understand the ones you love are in trouble, but we need to make sure you're able to at least fight if you want to save them quickly."

"I can fight just fine."

"You're lucky we found bandages on the way here." Takashi said while rummaging through his blue backpack and pulled out two medical wraps.

"Come on, let's see it." Saeko persisted, placing her sword down beside her and taking the bandages from Takashi. I let out a defeated sigh. Shizuka and Yasumi wouldn't want me to run around with a big open gash on my chest anyway.

"Just make it quick. I have to get moving." I demanded.

With that said, I proceeded to take off my shirt, being careful of the incision it covered. It felt as if the cloth stuck to my skin by my blood was ripping it like it was wax, and I held in my painful grunts as I felt the tearing sensation rip across my chest. Holding the now crumpled red shirt after removal, I approached and offered Takashi the M4 so he could guard us.

Saeko gasped audibly, Takashi only stared with concern in his grimace at the incision I sustained, before snapping out of his stunned state and hesitantly accepting the rifle.

"So, how bad is it?" I nervously chuckled, looking down at Saeko, whose blue eyes shift to look at mine for a split second before staring back at the injury, cringing as she did.

"Hey, come on. You're scaring me." I beckoned her, "Staring at it isn't going to fix it."

"Riida, it looks bad," Saeko spoke, approaching closer to me with the bandages and carefully traced her finger under the cut, "What happened?"

"I have that asshole, the boss around here, to thank for all of this." I cursed bitterly. Saeko started to gradually wrap the bandages around my left shoulder and under my right armpit, making sure to cover the whole slash across my chest.

"Who are these people anyway?" Takashi questioned with his back facing us, armed with the M4. The back of his head turned as he was scanning the area behind Saeko, who continued the first half of layering my injury.

"Hell if I know," I shrugged, "These guys ambushed on our street.. Right in front of our house too."

"Did you see your family?!" Takashi's voice picked up.

"No..." I sighed, looking down and watching Saeko's occupied hands work on bandaging me. "We didn't even have a chance to step inside our house."

"Damn..." Takashi looked over his shoulder to me,. "So, they captured you to take what you have?"

"If they wanted to just ransack us, we wouldn't be here." I said, "Not like it stopped them from taking our shit anyway."

"Then why  _are_ you here?"

"I..." I averted my gaze to the tall ceiling, "I apparently killed the leader's brother."

"What?" Takashi completely turned around with a raised brow.

"Yeah. When they ambushed us, he came running up to me with a bat. We got to a position where he was choking me and I had my gun in my hand... So..."

"It was either you or him." Saeko ceased bandaging for a moment to look up at me. I looked back at her momentarily before breaking eye contact and looked to the side.

"Yeah, and instead of killing us, they captured us." I answered, looking back at Saeko. She was focusing blankly at my chest for a couple of moments before she continued wrapping the second layer of bandages. A minute passed by in silence before Takashi resumed the conversation.

"If you killed his brother, then there's no doubt he's..." Takashi paused, "He'll kill Shizuka and Yasumi."

"That's why I need to get to the top floor, now!" I proclaimed furiously, panting slowly, and clenching my fists harshly with my nails digging into my palm, which did little to none to relieve my stress. Hanging my head down, I notice Saeko's hand placed on my bandaged chest.

"You don't think you're just gonna climb every flight of this building by yourself and take on all of them?" Saeko said.

"What other choice do I have?"

"This building is at least twenty stories high!" Saeko mentioned, and I looked up to meet her gaze, "You'll need our help."

"You've already done enough," I protested, gesturing to my now bandaged chest, "Even so, I don't deserve your help."

"I promised Alice we would get you all back, and I plan on keeping that promise." Takashi sternly said, stepping closer to Saeko and I before stopping beside me, "Even if you don't deserve it."

" _Fuck you_." I hissed back at him.

"No, Riida. Fuck  _you_." Takashi spat, "I mean, what the hell man, just leaving us like that?!"

"What if it was just Shizuka, Yasumi, and I down there while you all were up there?! What would  _you_  have done?!"

" _WE_  would have tried to save you!" Takashi shouted back, this time his body turned to face my direction.

"Easy decision for you to make now when you're not in the  _FUCKING_  position, Takashi!" I shouted and sized him up.

"DAMMIT RIIDA,  _ALICE_  WAS IN THAT MESS! DID THAT PROCESS THROUGH YOUR HEAD?!"

"I KNOW, AND I'M  _SORRY_! HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED APOLOGIZE BEFORE YOU FUCKING FORGIVE ME?!" My voice croaked and I felt tears starting to develop in the corners of my eyes, distorting the sight of Takashi in front of me.

"We tried to lure them away. We ran out of ammo. There was  _nothing_  more we could do." My voice weakened, "We barely made it up there, but going back down? That was suicide. The road behind us led home, and the choice just seemed obvious.

"I gave up. And,  _I. AM. SORRY_." I closed my eyes, feeling my tears continue to run down my cheeks. "But I am not going to risk my little brother, and my best friend's life to do something impossible… and…

"I didn't want to watch you all die."

I tried to control my breathing, but it wasn't enough to stop me from completely breaking down. The burning pain in my chest became even more extreme, and I pressed a hand on my face and one against my aching chest as I sobbed painfully.

"Yasumi blames me for it all, y'know? Sure, I know it's my fault, but all I wanted was to protect them. Now he hates me." I continued speaking in between exasperated breaths, "A-And… And then we got so close to home. I just wanted to sleep in my own bed and wish this is all just a horrible nightmare.

"But instead, I woke up here in this  _FUCKED_  situation. With the one's I care for are being HELD HOSTAGE BY A FUCKING PSYCHOPATH IN A WORLD WHERE DEAD BODIES WALK, AND THE LIVING LOSES THEIR HUMANITY.

"Ever since the day this whole apocalypse started, it all just keeps spiraling down, and down... And it's only going to get worse.

"I… I can't lose both of them... They're all I have."

The room fell silent, my sniffling, hiccups, and me softly repeating "I'm sorry" being the only noise that filled the room.

I don't know why I had blew up like that. It was probably all the stress and guilt mixing together an ugly concoction in my chest that I couldn't bear any longer. Ignoring it didn't help, and before I could even start to rescue Shizuka and Yasumi, I broke down like this. In front of both Takashi and Saeko, asking for some sort of forgiveness that I don't deserve. Pathetic.

Minutes, that felt like an eternity, passed and the intensity of my sobbing decreased before I began to compose myself once more, and I cease my whispered apologies.

"Riida..." Saeko's voice gently called. Not expecting anything great to happen next, I slowly raised my head to meet Saeko's sympathetic gaze. Ahead, I spot a glimpse of a figure appearing behind her. They stood tall, and lifted an object overhead that shined in the rays of the sunlight.

"LOOK OUT!" I called, dashing past Saeko and colliding into the assailant.

As the man staggers back, I snatch my knife out of my pocket and swiftly slash the blade across his throat. I stepped back, panting slowly as I watch the man drop the steel pipe he was armed with and grasped at his open throat that continuously squirted out blood. Only sounds of gurgling was audible as he drowned in his own blood, until the sound of a gunshot rang aloud in my ears followed by a bullet penetrating the left temple of the man's head. He fell lifelessly to the floor by my feet, blood building up on the carpet that covered the middle of the lobby. Taking a step away from the body, I turned my head to the direction the deceased man was shot from, and caught Takashi lowering his aim with the rifle.

"There's no telling how many are on the way," Takashi started justifying before Saeko and I could speak, "You saw those people taking pot shots at us earlier. With all that noise, there's probably tons of undead comin' right now."

"All the more reason why we have to reach the top floor then." I glanced at the exit of the lobby after clothing myself with my shirt. Noticing Saeko was sitting on the floor, I reached out my hand in front of her. After making sure she had her sword with her, she reaches and grasped my hand, and I pulled her up to her feet.

"Thank you." She said, still gently staring at me with worry in her eyes.

"Riida? Are you gonna be okay?" She asked.

"I think so." I smiled in reassurance, getting a grin back from her as I wiped leftover tears from my eyes. We brought our attention to the sound of footsteps, Takashi being the one who made the sounds as he walked to us.

"Plan?" Takashi inquired.

"Get to the twentieth floor, rescue Shizuka and Yasumi, and deal with anyone who gets in our way." I explained, taking the steel pipe that laid on the floor beside the assailant's body.

"And the leader?" Takashi added.

"What about him?" Saeko disapproved, "We're here to save, Shizuka, and Yasumi. That's it."

"But what if we don't kill him?" Takashi said, "What if he follows us when we escape?"

"Saeko's right, Takashi. We need to focus on them. Not him." I said as I examined the steel pipe, studying it's durability.

"When the time comes..." I said, turning the pipe to detect the reflection of my glassy, bloodshot, and sleep deprived hazel eyes.

"I'll kill him myself."

* * *

Takashi took point in front and Saeko followed behind me as we ascended the staircase in a single file line. We hastily climbed the stairs in silence, the floor numbers labeled by each flight rising as we did until we came to a stop on floor six. A gargantuan tower of furniture blockaded the next set of stairs and maybe even the other floors. I tiptoed to scan more of the mess, confirming my suspicions; the furniture also continued piling up the spiral of stairs.

"We're not going to be able to climb this." Takashi sighed in annoyance.

"Well, there's a working elevator." I mentioned, recalling the elevator ride down to the lobby before finding Takashi and Saeko. "But you need a keycard to access it."

"Then there should be someone here that has a key-card that could get us high enough, or even better, to the top floor." Saeko concluded.

"Why not just try another flight of stairs?" Takashi suggested.

"If there is, I wouldn't know where, and it may be badly barricaded like this one." I gestured towards the blockade in front of us.

"That'll be our plan B then." Takashi nodded.

We all gathered to the entrance of the sixth floor, taking cover on each side. Takashi and I took both sides of the door and faced each other, and Saeko took cover on the wall behind me. The sound of her sword slowly being unsheathed faintly broke the silence and Takashi's hands trembled with the rifle he held while he took shaky breaths.

"Killing zombies is one thing," Takashi looked up to Saeko and I, his anxiety showing in his eyes, "But this is like… War."

"It's been a war ever since the day this all started." Saeko responded.

"I know that!" Takashi quietly exclaims, "It's just that, it's different to aim this at a living person."

"Both of you, listen up." I called, looking at Takashi, and glanced over my shoulder to Saeko.

"These people ambushed Shizuka, Yasumi, and I with the intent of killing us for what we had. With my home street being as empty as it was when we got to our district, there's no doubt we weren't the only one's. These thieves murder people. I don't know about both of you, but I'm not gonna let them continue killing others." I finished, and Takashi only nodded slowly as his brown optics fixated at the ground.

"This war started when they ambushed us." The room fell in silence, letting my little speech sink into the atmosphere for a moment until Saeko broke the silence.

"Let's just focus on the key-cards." She said. We all silently agreed before Takashi placed his hand on the door handle, turned it slowly, and gradually pushed it open while aiming through with the rifle.

"There's two of 'em." He silently called after moments of observation, still aiming down the open crack of the door. Saeko swiftly shifted towards Takashi and peeked through the door as well.

"Riida, you and I will take them out quietly. I'll take the right." She said. Unbuckling the pouches from me, I hand Saeko the three M4 magazines I had stored in them, and she handed them to Takashi.

"Cover us." I said.

"I got your back." He wrapped the buckle of M4 ammo around his waist, giving us a nod when he's prepared.

I gradually opened the door, revealing a hallway lit by regal lamps on each sides of the two walls that lined up. Two men stood beside each other in the middle of the hallway, my target on the left smoking a cigarette, of which the smell of nicotine sweeped the clean air from me ever since I opened the door.

Crouched, Saeko and I entered the hallway cautiously and matched our slow pace together as we approached the guards. I took my knife out of my pocket, wielding it in my right hand as the steel pipe remained in my left, and the conversation the two guards were having picked up in volume as we approached closer to them.

"... I even got myself a little pet along the way."

"Jesus, ya mean the girl you keep in your room?"

"Petite, right?"

Saeko and I stared at each other once we got five feet behind them, and I signaled her by mouthing the word  _one_ as she readied her katana.

"Crazy fucker. If the boss finds out, your ass is grass. You better hope she's locked in there tight."

_Two._

"There's dozens of us in this hotel, along with the boss' vendetta against the prisoners, he won't notice  _anything_."

_Three._

I hammered the end of the steel pipe against the smoker's temple, then quickly wrapped my arm around to lift his chin up with the weapon. Wrapping my other arm around the man, I penetrated the knife's blade deep into his jugular. He struggled helplessly as he tries to pull at my arm before his body stopped resisting after a couple of seconds, and his arms hung dead to his sides.

Retracting the knife from his throat, I laid down the dead man gently on the floor on his back, and crouched next to him.

Not forgetting the guard's colleague, I turn my head to witness Saeko-whose sword was thrust through the other man's back and out his chest-execute her target by turning the blade outward, and slice out the left side of his torso. Blood sprayed along the walls of the hallway, and I lifted my arm by my face to shield my eyes from the crimson rain, watching the other guard lifelessly fall to his knees, and to the ground as a pool of blood oozed around his body.

Looking ahead, now that the guards were out of the way, the empty hallway continued and led down two different pathways, left and right. After observing that the coast is clear, I look back over to Takashi and waved him over to move up. He did so, pacing cautiously and stood in front of Saeko and I, guarding us as we started searching the two bodies.

"Hurry and search." He whispered after getting in position.

The start of my search bore no luck, the coat the deceased guard donned-dampened with his own blood-held nothing of importance. Only until I searched the pockets of his jeans that I grasped his wallet, or at least I assumed it was. Opening the wallet, the first item I noticed immediately was a blue card labeled by half-hidden numbers, due to it being inside one of the wallet's pockets. Eagerly, I turned the wallet vertically and slipped out the blue card. As I did this, a small piece of paper fell out of the same pocket and to the ground.

Curiosity got the best of me as I decided to pick up the folded piece of paper off the floor. Unfolding it only revealed a pencil drawing of a lily flower. Though simple, it seems as if the artist paid attention to detail, as if the flower was displayed in front of them as they drew it. Confused, I looked down at the dead, nicotine scented guard. Did he draw this? Did that girl he was talking about draw this? My train of thought was halted shortly as Saeko spoke.

"Did he say he was keeping a girl in his room?"

I looked up from the drawing to Saeko, nodding. "Yeah, he had a key-card." I presented the key-card to both Takashi and Saeko, the number labeled on the blue card being  _805_.

"Great! We could help her along the way then." Takashi quietly cheered. I would have interjected, but that would probably earn me another punch to the face for leaving more lives to a violent fate.

"We have to make it quick, we can't afford any other delays." I said, placing the key-card in my pocket before looking back at the flower drawing.

"What's that?" I lifted my head to find Saeko's head tilted in question.

"Drawing of a lily. Nothing important." I said and crumpled the piece of paper, letting it fall to the ground. Wielding my knife and steel pipe, we all made our way towards the splitting corridors, standing in the middle.

The three of us stood in the middle, and I presumed that Takashi and Seako also had no idea which way led to the elevators.

"Riida, do you know which way the elevators are?" Takashi questioned, aiming the rifle at both left and right hallways.

I contemplated the idea of what possible side the elevators would be in. Funny how it wasn't near the stairs, but I guess hotels are just strange in general, especially with all the types of people who stay in high quality places like this. Looking down the left corridor, the appearance of it doesn't really differ than the one we stood in-aside from the dried blood and other objects that seem to have been abandoned at the state of evacuation-but as I concentrated closely on the doors, I found that the door numbers descend as it continued down the left hallway. Looking down the right hallway, the floor numbers ascend. Don't know if they bore any relevance of where the elevator would be, but it was something to go off of.

"Left." I answered.

"You sure?" Takashi pressed.

"No." But we had already wasted time standing here like idiots, so without a chance for Takashi and Saeko to comment further, I walked down the left corridor. The sound of their footsteps behind me indicating that they're following despite my confidence about this direction.

We cautiously paced forward in silence with Takashi taking point with the rifle ready while Saeko and I followed beside him. The longer we continued traversing ahead, the more pressure I felt built up on me. My heart pounded hard against my chest, the grip I had on the cold steel pipe and knife tightening with sweaty palms.

Sure enough, as we continued moving forward, a man bursts out of one of the hotel doors on the left and we all froze in place in unison. The man donned a rugged white shirt stained by many unknown substances that darkened it. As the man leaned against the wall across the room he stumbled out of, he slowly turns his head towards us as if he felt our eyes locked on him.

An eerie silence filled the hallway as we all comically stared back at the rugged, blue-eyed man, before an audible gasp emitted from him and he pushed himself off the wall, facing towards us with an arm reaching behind him. In this position, I had a feeling we all knew what he was reaching for.

"Taka-"

Two deafening gunshots emitted and connected to the man who was knocked back to the ground with two more red bloodstains dampening his dirtied shirt, adding to the stain collection. Turning my head to Takashi, I notice his eyes also shift and lock into mine. We both shared concerned expressions as the noise of muffled commotion surround us, these sounds coming behind the closed doors that lined up the hallway ahead and behind the three of us.

A door opened far off in the distance, along with a man stepping out and facing us with a terrifying stare. Then another door open, and out came another man with a machete in hand, glaring at us with the same horrifying stare that petrified the three of us. Again, another door opened, and another man came out…

And another door opened… Then another…. Then another…

"R-Riida, shit…." Takashi hesitantly voices his horror.

"Takashi," I spoke as the corridor filled with more armed men, "You and Saeko watch the back."

"F-Fuck, alright! What about you?" Takashi turned beside me to aim at the other patrons of the hotel who also filled the space behind us. I look to Saeko who had her blade pointed towards our assailants at the rear, already prepared to fight. Her eyes look over her shoulder to me and her head nodded slightly in reassurance.

Turning to face the front, I stare into the hallway and examine the faces of at least a dozen men eagerly waiting for an unwritten que to unleash their attack. Some held weapons, some didn't, I don't know. It was hard to tell when you're practically outnumbered in a narrow corridor.

Slowly closing my eyes, I focused on slowing my breaths, feeling the pounding of my heart gradually ease in a calming rhythm, and relaxed my grip on the steel pipe and knife.

My senses have dulled, and the only sound I could hear now was my slow, calm heartbeat. Then the beats started to quicken as I allowed adrenaline to rush in my veins, and the image of Shizuka and Yasumi smiling as we all shared a laugh together.

I opened my eyes and the sight of the men still glaring at me stayed the same, but this time I wasn't terrified anymore.

"I'll be fine."

* * *

As soon as the words leave my mouth, a barbaric cry and a raise of a weapon started a chain reaction until the noise of war cries was all that filled the whole sixth floor. They continued their war cry as they started rushing forward towards me. This was made the same for the enemies coming towards Saeko and Takashi as rapid gunfire was produced from his rifle.

Joining in, I also yawp at the top of my lungs and ran towards the horde of armed men fearlessly.

A single man lead the charge, wildly taking the first swing that I was able to parry with a swift motion of my steel pipe, and I quickly counter by thrusting the sharp tip of my knife into his throat. Pulling out the knife, I kicked the man into the crowd behind him, knocking a few people down as some merely pushed the body aside and continued rushing towards me.

Among those who quickly dismissed their fellow colleague emerged two men wielding a blunt steel pipe, and the other holding another a dull machete. I duck under their unified attack and punished the man on the right by using the reach of my steel pipe, and thrusting the tip of it harshly against his throat which knocked him back against the wall with his hands grasping at his neck. Turning to the other man, I notice him taking another opportunity to strike at me. Not allowing him to even perform his attack, and using the built up momentum of my turning body, I strike the steel pipe across the man's head which instantly resulted in him falling unconscious.

My reflexes cease to fail me as I sense another man from the group advance, turning to catch the sight of him swinging down with a weapon in his hand that I was able to block overhead with the steel pipe. Taking advantage of the opening, I thrust kick the man back into the crowded hallway, having the group deal with another obstacle that slowed their rush.

Not forgetting the man whose throat I bashed with my steel pipe, I turn to see him recovered as expected. With the machete still grasped in his hand, he swung horizontally and aimed for my lower torso. Letting go of the steel pipe, I advance a step toward him and caught his hand that held the machete handle, keeping it locked on my side before quickly turning my hips outward and powerfully clashing my palm against his elbow to completely fracture his arm. The force of my attack sent his arm swinging away to the side with a cry of pain coming from the man and left the machete in my grip. I took the opportunity to grasp the handle of the machete in my right hand and penetrate the blade through his chest and pulled out, killing the man, or at least rendering him to bleed out if I missed his heart.

A bold man armed with a huge bladed kitchen knife approached next, immediately having his stomach slashed open by my machete followed by severing his fingers that curled around the knife he held, causing the knife to fall to the floor along with a few of his digits. I turned him around and wrapped my left arm around him and held my knife against his neck. Looking down the man's shoulder, I witness as he struggles to keep his intestines inside with his two hands, one hand only having odd digits, while begging hysterically for help to his allies in front of him.

My gaze lifted to the men I presented my hostage to, all of them paralyzed by the scene of a man desperately struggling to keep his stomach inside of his body, until I caught attention of a shine and shape of a barrel of a handgun pointed straight at my direction.

"TAKASHI!" I called, still keeping my cover behind the hostage I held while keeping most of my head behind his.

"GET DOWN!" Takashi's voice commanded, knowing what needed to be done. I instantly push the man towards the group, diving to the side just in time as a rain of bullets started passing above me.

Keeping my head down, I turn my head to the direction of my attackers to watch them all fall like dominoes as the bullets continue raining down upon them, until the inevitable sound of a click was heard, and the gunfire ceased.

Right as the shooting stops, I hastily lift myself from the ground as three other men rose from the up from the many piled bodies and rushed down at us.

Blocking their way, I reversed my grip on the machete, with the blade facing outward from my forearm, as I deflect one of the man's thrust of his machete before positioning my legs and spinning counterclockwise with my blade slashing across his throat effortlessly.

I was caught off guard as I stopped my spin when another man roughly kicked my knee which made me lose my balance, leaving me to kneel down. Shifting my look upwards as I ignored the pain on my knee, I swung my machete blade at the man, only for him to grab my hand and simply smacked it, disarming my right hand as I lost grip of the machete. The man followed up by rotating my arm downward which caused my body to be forced to the ground. I fought back the grip by keeping my knelt position, then following the proper contortions of my arm as I spun around to have my arm wrap behind my back, resulting me to stand beside the man who kept me at a strong grip. Lifting my left hand that brandished my knife, I force the blade down at the back of his neck.

When I was released of the man's grip as he collapsed, another set of arms wrap around me and pulled me away from the body that still had my knife stuck at the back of his neck, leaving me unarmed. As I was being pulled away, I felt my assailants foot struggling to trip over one of my feet to take me down. However, I countered by bending both of my knees so I could keep my weight on the surface, and I violently elbowed my assailant's body three times to weaken his grip on me. Feeling the decreased tension of his arms that held me due to my strikes, both of my hands grip one of his arms that were wrapped around me, and I heaved him over my shoulder, sending him colliding to the floor with a loud thud.

Not releasing my hold on his wrist, I step over the man as he writhed in pain, and snapped his arm over my knee. He releases a wail of agony, and I look down at the man. His teary eyes gazed up at me for an unspoken plea of mercy. Under my breath, I whisper,

"Sorry."

Lifting his arm, I raise his head in unison with my smashing boot which curbed stomped his face to the ground.

**End of Chapter**


	16. Bloody Pedals

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own Highschool of the Dead. The original series is written by Daisuke Sato. This is a nonprofit, fan made work of fiction. Reader discretion has been advised.**

**Chapter 16: Bloody Petals**

"You guys good?" I turned around and called for Takashi and Saeko, who thankfully stood amongst the piles of both writhing and unmoving bodies in the corridor. Takashi raised a hand and waved.

"We're fine!" He responded aloud. As they started making their way down the hallway to me, I recalled one of the hunters that nearly shot me with a pistol during our last encounter. I hastily investigated around the floors of the narrow hallway in search for the handgun. It wasn't long until I caught sight of the weapon, littered on the ground beside it's former owner who was gunned down by Takashi.

I quickly snatched the steel gun after stepping over the disarray of bodies. With my hand gripped around the cold steel of the pistol's grip, I released the magazine onto the palm of my free hand, catching the sight of the bullet shaped casings inside the cartridge. From what I can tell, almost a full clip.

"This'll do." I said to myself before I loaded the gun, made sure the safety was on, and moved to fixate it inside the back of my jeans. A sudden clasp around my ankle stopped me and my body instantly tensed. I reflexively pointed the pistol downward, turned off it's safety, and circulated my aim down the area around me.

Looking down beside me, my aim landed on an extended arm that reached out toward me. Further inspection wasn't needed to know that this was the source of the weak grip on my ankle. I looked down at the man who grasped at me, probably his feeble attempt on trying to stop me from going further. I gave him credit. After all the carnage, he still fought. I effortlessly kicked his hand away from my ankle and pointed down the barrel of my gun to the man's head. From this point blank distance I'm certain I could painlessly end his life with a bullet to the head. His eyes didn't waver and locked onto mine, tears mixing with his blood that covered his face. He used the same hand that clamped onto my ankle and reached up towards me, silently asking for mercy.

Without a word, I gave him the only mercy I can deliver and pulled the trigger. Both his hand and head fell lifelessly back to the ground.

Lowering my hand, I sighed with unease that still clamped my heart. Finally holstering the pistol into the back of my jeans, I saw the duo standing near. Takashi and Saeko's expression of sorrow and shock were signs enough to show me that they witnessed everything. I twitched my head as a gesture to start heading to the elevators, which they took notice to and started walking.

"Jesus… What a mess." Takashi said with his own, unsettled sigh. We continued down the corridor and walked past the mess of bodies.

"This guy has a damn army." I said.

"It's only been a couple of days since the outbreak and someone already made an army of hunters? Unbelievable." Added Takashi.

"As if being outnumbered by zombies wasn't enough." I kneaded my forehead to ease my never-ending migraine.

"You're telling me." Said Saeko, "My guess is that this hotel is their base."

"Yeah, we're definitely kicking the hornet's nest," I said as we all finally reached a pair of elevators at the end of the corridor, "Someone was bound to hear what happened on this floor. We better head up, fast."

"You still have the card right?" Takashi inquired.

"Oh, yeah," I slid the card out of my pocket and handed it out to Takashi, "Here, use it when we get inside the elevator."

"Got it." Takashi said with a nod and took the card.

I turned my attention towards the elevators and connected my index finger on the 'up' button. It lit up a bright red color when I pressed it. A heavy sigh escaped from my lungs while we waited, and I started spacing out as I bored my eyes on the unmoving steel doors of the elevators. It was probably the only moment in time I had to relax in this situation.

Again, guilt hit my stomach and I closed my eyes in a small attempt to ease the internal pain. The man who I executed in front of Takashi and Saeko wouldn't leave my head for the time being, and the look in his eyes was tough to push aside. The fear and anguish in his eyes that asked me for kindness, only for me to kill him in cold blood. What am I turning into?

 _NO! No, stop it_! I thought. I promised myself that I will go to any lengths to save Yasumi and Shizuka. That man's fate was sealed the moment he decided to stand in my way. No more hesitations.

"What about the girl?" Takashi spoke up, "We're saving her, right?"

"Huh? What?" I half-mindedly muttered as I looked over my shoulder to Takashi, my senses immediately returning.

"The girl, remember?" He repeated himself.

"The girl that smoking person was talking about, before you killed him." Saeko elaborated, which jogged my memory. The image of the well drawn flower of a lily came to mind.

"Ooh, her?" I recalled before I shook my head in disapproval, "Don't tell me you still want to save her."

"Well, I didn't hear anybody say 'no' when I suggested we should." Takashi adamantly expressed.

"That was  _before_ a shit-ton of those hunters attacked us, Takashi. They must know that we're coming and are probably going to-"

A ringing sound from the elevators interrupted me, the sound prompting me to pull my pistol out and I tapped Takashi's shoulders. He nodded in an agreement to postpone our conversation for the time being, and we turned to the elevators. Pointing my pistol out in front of me, I took aim at the left elevator and I watched Takashi do the same with his rifle to the opposite elevator. Seconds passed before the doors from the elevator on my side started to slide apart, and I readied my finger to pull the trigger. I probably would have too, if the sight that was presented before me didn't freeze me in place.

As the steel doors of the elevator separated there was just... So much blood. More so than the hallway. My eyes were greeted with the sight of at least a dozen of corpses that filled in the elevator, with each side of the elevator walls doused in buckets of crimson red blood. The stench of rotting bodies, smelling like pungent rotten food and infant feces times by ten, assaulted my nose ever since the doors slid open. Somehow I was able to control myself and not throw up at the slaughter presented in front of me. But the bodies weren't what threw me off.

In the middle of the elevator-in the middle of all of the bodies-was a girl wearing a vanilla white gown that was soaked with blood, most likely belonging to those who were lying dead in the elevator. The blood stained across the bottom of her gown with some soaked along the chest of her tattered gown. Her long, brown, disheveled hair covered her face and the puddle of blood she stood on soaked her bare feet. It was hard to tell if she was staring at us.

"Hey," Takashi's voice was able to bring me out of my shocked state. He probably noticed my hesitation and I watched him approach the creepy girl cautiously, reaching out a hand to her with his rifle slung around his shoulder. Honestly, I was surprised that Takashi didn't gag once as he got closer towards the elevator, "We're not going to hurt you. We'll help you out of here."

"Is that the...?" Saeko quietly whispered, probably referring to the girl Takashi wanted to rescue.

"I have no clue. This girl looks like a total psycho to me." I whispered back.

Takashi slowly inched his way inside of the elevator, before the girl abruptly brandished a huge kitchen knife that slashed Takashi's palm in a frightening speed. Takashi recoiled back, grunting in pain as he held his hand before he was shoved out of the elevator by the girl.

"Takashi!" Saeko screamed and ran in front of me before I could get the chance to shoot at the creepy, and now hostile, girl.

Saeko thrusted her sword towards the white dressed girl but the girl effectively parried it to the side with her knife, the collision of metal producing a bright spark. The girl stepped forward past Saeko's katana after her parry, grasped at Saeko's hand that held her sword, and sliced for her neck. Saeko was quick enough to catch the girl's wrist before the blade reached her neck, and they were both left in a power struggle.

"Riida! Takashi!" Saeko called out our names as she competed against the girl's strength. I was unable to get a clear shot at the girl, whose knife was close to puncturing Saeko's throat. Adding onto that, the girl's body was more concealed behind Saeko's while they wrestled in place. If I just stood there doing nothing, Saeko would die.

"Fuck it!" I cursed and charged towards the two girls. Their struggle had them turn as I charged, which made it easy for me to tackle the girl away from Saeko and into the stinking, bloodied elevator.

Almost slipping from the huge puddles of blood that covered the ground of the elevator, I rammed the girl to the back of the wall and her backside collided with a loud, metallic thud. I held one of her legs as she fell on top of the pile of corpses but she forcefully charged back her free leg and thrusted her bloody foot against my chest, causing a burning sensation to revisit my injury once more. This had me stumbling backwards, holding onto my bandaged chest until a surface caught me. Only, it felt as if I pushed something in with my back. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed brightly lit up buttons before immediately recognizing the floor panel for the elevator.

"Shit!" I cursed, turning back to the girl, who quickly approached me and I ducked from her attempt to slash at me. While I tried to regain my balance from dodging her attack, I felt her strike at my chest once more, which caused me to fall back on the floor against the elevator wall, next to the bodies that piled up in this fucked up elevator. The feeling of air replaced the feeling of the metal grip where my handgun was supposed to be. I traced my vision outside of the elevator to find the handgun I was feeling for laying just outside.

"Ow. Fucking shit, god dammit." I continued cursing at myself as I tried to ease the abused wound on my chest, placing my hand on my bandage and forcefully applied pressure on it.

"Riida!" Both Saeko and Takashi's voices shouted my name in unison. I leaned forward to stare out the elevator to see Takashi trying to grab for the pistol just out of his reach, right before the elevator doors closed on him.

"Oh great. Just great." I whispered bitterly, leaning my head back against the wall. Shifting my eyes down, my vision caught the sight of the girl. She just stood still, menacingly watching me recover as the pain in my chest started to alleviate in a matter of seconds. Adrenaline is probably taking it's course again.

Taking a glance at the bodies that laid beside me, they looked like people who could've been hunters. At least, that's what I thought. In all honesty, those corpses could've been anybody, but it didn't make sense. Why would this girl just kill people who were trapped here like her? I mean,  _we_  tried to help her and she did attack us. So there's that.

I reached a hand above me to firmly grip the hand-railing protruding from the elevator wall, and gradually lifted myself up to my feet. The girl only passively tilted her head to the side as she watched me, her messy brown hair moving from her face to reveal a pair of vibrant, violet eyes that glared into mine, and a deep scar that stretched out from her nose to the bottom of her right cheek.

"Hey, take it easy. I don't want to hurt you." I said while I eased myself up, regaining my balance while the pain from my chest disappeared.

The girl threw back her arm and swiftly charged at me, bringing her knife downward at my face. I instantaneously lifted my arm, blocking her wrist with the knife only inches away from my eye, and I slithered my arm around her hand, trapping her arm.

"So be it." I said before applying pressure on her wrist by squeezing as hard as I could, then controlling her upper-body to face towards the ground, keeping her arm straightened out. While I motioned to chop downward at the girl's elbow, she decided to hit below the belt and used her other hand and get a hold at my crotch and squeezed,  _hard_.

Screaming, as it almost felt like my testicles were going to pop in her iron grasp, I lifted a leg up and stomped my boot against her face, which thankfully had her release my crotch. The connection of the kick sent her to the wall behind her and I caught her hand that held her knife as she was sent back. Using the momentum, I swung her to the wall beside me and she collided with a crashing thud.

Keeping my right hand grasped tightly around her wrist, I roughly grabbed at her dirty brown hair and lifted her head back from the wall, then forcefully smashed it back onto the steel surface. Trying to disarm her, I proceeded to smash her hand repeatedly against the wall as well, until the fourth attempt had her release her grip from her knife and it fell on top one of the bodies. Not wasting a single moment, I dragged her away from the wall and swept my foot across her legs. Keeping my grasp on her arm, she plummeted face-first onto the bloodied ground of the elevator. I knelt on top of her back, keeping my hands grasped on hers with her arm straightened above her.

"ALRIGHT! That's enough!" I shouted down at her. She only fought beneath my hold by kicking her feet and frantically squirmed.

"Oh no you don't." I growled and applied pressure down her blood soaked hand, with her palm facing downward against her straightened arm.

"STOP!  _Stopstopstopstop!_ " She cried in pain after seconds of me threatening to dislocate her arm and ceased struggling from my grasp. I relieved the pressure a bit as she complied, but didn't release her.

Remembering the elevator panel, I turned my attention to it after making sure to keep a solid hold on he. The buttons were lit up like a christmas tree, courtesy of my back. What stood out was a particularly red colored button that seemed to be pushed in. The girl probably did that. I also caught a glimpse of the card slot at the bottom of the floor buttons.

"You have a card, don't you?" I questioned, looking back down at the girl and waited seconds for a response.

Nothing.

"Not talking now? Fine." I huffed before having my free hand pat her body down, feeling for the thin, rectangular, plastic card. In the process of me feeling over the blood-soaked silk dress, my hands felt an entrance of silk and I inserted my hand inside of the pocket. Inside, my hands felt an object that matched the description of a card. Pinching my fingers on the object, I slid my hand out to find the blue outlines of a card accompanied with a folded sheet of paper that covered the front of the blue card.

I fanned the objects apart with my fingers as if they were playing cards, revealing the object behind the folded piece of paper to be the blue hotel card with the numbers  _2049_ on it.

"Who are you?" I continued questioning the girl, placing the hotel card in my pocket and I flicked the folded note open.

Shockingly, on the piece of paper was the same perfectly illustrated lily flower. Actually, not  _perfectly._  Some drops of blood seeped through the paper, as if the flower itself was bleeding. Was this psychopathic-looking girl really the one?

"You drew this?" I held the paper down near her face. A few seconds passed until her head motioned a slight nod, her cheek smearing against the blood on the floor as she did.

"Say it." I commanded, still keeping the note in her view.

"... Yes. I drew it." She responded with a hushed, raspy voice.

"...Dammit." I sighed before folding up the drawing and placing it in my pocket with the card. My head turned to the girl's weapon nearby and I reached for it. Gripping the handle, I yanked the blade off of the dead body it impaled with a sickening, slimy sound.

"Since you  _really_  like to swing this around," I motioned to all the corpses that surrounded us with the knife in my hand, "I'm gonna hold onto this for a bit."

"Goodie." The girl responded, to my surprise, "And when will you return it?"

"When I feel like you deserve it."

"...Fine, you got me." She answered with an annoyed tone in her raspy voice, "Now will you get off of me?"

That, I didn't want to do. But I needed to get back to Takashi and Saeko somehow, it would make controlling this maniac easier for me.

"Alright, get up. Try anything with me and you'll regret it." I released her arm and stood up beside her, keeping the tip of the blade pointed in her direction as she started to lift herself from the floor. If Takashi wanted to save this girl, fine. I had no time for this bullshit and I'll drag her back to him if I had to.

While she was busy lifting herself from the floor, I took the initiative to cautiously walk backwards to the elevator panel. Once in reach of the panel, I discreetly took the card out of my pocket and slid it inside of the card slot before sliding it out. With a slight jolt the elevator started moving again, probably going up to the nearest floor my back chose earlier.

We both waited in silence while the elevator ascended, our optics fixated on each other and I kept the dirtied, bloody knife pointed at her. Blood covered half of her face, more so than the other side, probably due to me subduing her with her cheek flat on the bloody ground. Only one of her bright violet eyes shone in the dimly lit elevator, glaring into my eyes.

"So, I'm guessing we have a common enemy here." I broke the silence, motioning to the bodies, "If that's who these people were."

"Relax, they were." She confirmed aggressively.

"Then why'd you attack us? We were gonna help you!"

"Do you know how many times I hear that?! How was I supposed to know who you people are? Besides, I don't need your help."

"Yeah, right now you seem to have  _everything_  under control. Nice one." I said, my arm unwavering from its defensive position. She said nothing while her hostile gaze proved to unwaver as well.

"Tell me who you are." I demanded.

"And why the hell should I tell you that?" She questioned irritably.

"Because I need to know if I can trust you, even if it's just a little! And like it or not, me and those other people you attacked are your only way out of this damn hotel." I said, presenting the hotel card that I obtained from her. I placed the card back into my pocket as silence filled the elevator. Her eyes diverted from mines and she gazed at the ground in contemplation. During the short time of silence, I prayed that she just didn't make things more complicated. The violet-eyed girl shifted her eyes to meet mines again before she opened her mouth and spoke.

"I'm Kiyoko."

"... That'll do."

"Your turn," She urged, "Who are  _you?_ "

"... Name's Riida." I greeted myself as civilized as I could, something I haven't done in a while. Fair exchange of information, for now.

"Well, Riida,  _fuck you._ " She hissed.

"Charming."

A familiar 'ding' sound emitted from an unseen speaker inside of the elevator and I turned my attention to the doors. The metallic walls slid open, revealing an open and, fortunately, empty space.

"Out." I commanded, motioning to the open door with the knife remaining in my grasp. She scoffed before walking out of the elevator and I only sighed before following out.

**End of Chapter**


End file.
